Spring!

Yesterday was officially the first day of spring and it seemed like it too. I was woken to birds tweeting for the first time in ages and the snow has begun to melt.

Stars Thomass

Today I ran in my own club's Thomass Race in the Huron Natural Area in south Kitchener. Getting there was orienteering in itself, map memory from Google maps and bus timetable route maps, but when I did get there (after a bus ride and about 3.5 km of running) the course was pretty fun.


A local outdoors shop was sponsoring the race and was offering free use of snow shoes for the course. Since it snowed loads yesterday I thought I'd try them. They certainly helped in the places where I was breaking my own trail but a lot of the course was on paths and they had been deliberately trodden down by the control hangers. I think it was worth trying them, if they had been smaller and lighter they would have been better for running in.


Not sure where I finished, or my time actually, but it will appear at www.orienteering.on.ca and stars.kw.net. I was pretty high up though, most people who beat me benefited from a handicap.

A took a friend from the XC team who wanted to give it a go. I took him out in a Waterloo Park (the XC team training area before the snow) yesterday to give him an idea of what he was doing and today, at his first orienteering event, he won! I must be a good coach. Being a novice his handicap helped as well. He's going to come along to the race next weekend as well.

I am rubbish at shot put

The Track & Field Team had their annual Shot-Put Competition for Non-Shot-Putters yesterday, and I came last, I expected to.

I was happy I managed to throw over 5m though!

Blue Mountain!

I've just had 4 days at Blue Mountain, a ski resort in Ontario. It was much better than I was expecting with good snow conditions and the hill, while not a mountain, was big enough. It is a couple of hours north of Waterloo by Lake Huron at Georgian Bay, good views from the top.

View Larger Map

I went in a group of 5 lads, we had rented a holiday cottage which was awesome. It had a sauna, huge lounge and dining room, kitchen, cable tv, everything. Skied for 3 of the 4 days, we were too tired on the other day, some good nights out.

View down a slope, and of Georgian Bay

Pretty tired now, and plenty of work to get done before mid-term exams next week.
There are some more photos on my Flickr account (link to the right)

U of T Track - my final race in black and gold

I ran at the University of Toronto today in my last race for Waterloo. I finished the 1500 m in 4:31.3, not quite my target but it is a PB.

Reading week, yay! Skiing on Wednesday.

Thomass Race 5

I ran my second of the Thomass Winter Adventure Running Series (aka Orienteering Series) today. It was tough.

Gators Orienteering Club

The novice planner had set an good quality course, if it was summer. At this time of year it was a bit long (7.4 km) with the winner taking 100 mins compared to the recommended of 60-75 mins.
I ran the first half in a big train (it is a mass start race) and that was hard going but manageable, but I ran a section to number 6 on my own and had to plough my way through thigh deep snow. In the second "box" score section I made a mess of control X, not too sure how I managed to cross a fence and not realise! This meant I ran another section on my own but caught up with the group on the way to 7, helped by a deer which decided to run into a tree after being startled by the pack and they stopped to make sure it was ok, it was. Train to the finish where I'm pretty certain I was top 10.

Results here or here

York Classic Track

On Saturday I raced at York University in the 1000 m and 1500 m (2:53 mins and 4:33 mins). I enjoyed the shorter distances much more than the 15 lap 3000 m.

RESULTS

There are two more weeks before reading week when I am going skiing to Blue Mountain for four days, can't wait.