Exhausted.

find Wally;)

Yesterday I took part in the Polish University Championships in cross-country. I decided to run the longer course of about 9,36km (consisting of 3 loops with one uphill on each of them). I was really excited and was looking forward for this competition since the whole group of Polish orienteers (including Jacek, Jancia, Drągu, Hewi, Charubcia, Chrupek, Kamil) were present.



Uphill...

I did appropriate warm-up and stood on the start line. We were told that there were about 4 minutes left to the start. Much time, I thought... but suddenly - after some time - we heard the pistol and the dogs were let out! My only wish regarding the start was not to fall down in the crowd of about 120 runners and I somehow managed to avoid it;)

The very first metres were expected to be quite fast and they actually were. However, not that fast. Fortunately, I succeeded in keeping my own pace at the beginning. The 1st three kilometres were as follows: 3:19, 3:26, 3:30, so the 1st loop was really promising.

Struggling!

At the beginning of the 2nd one I was the 2nd orienteer in the race, but quite easily managed to catch Drągu and get away from him. The pace was stable: 3:30, 3:32, 3:31.

The last loop began quite unluckily for me because I gained some advantage over the chasing group, but was too far away from the next one... and simply had to run alone. You probably know, it's not that nice and easy... That's why my speed got a bit lower - 3:39. Unfortunately, Drągu (ahead of his group) managed to catch me and even run past me. The last metres were extremely tiring. Nevertheless, my pace got a bit better: 3:33, 3:33. I had no power left for the last sprint and finished about 35th place (some 15secs behind Drągu).

Give me some proteins!

All in all, I am very satisfied with this performance. I managed to achieve the great pace of 3:30/km and placed 2nd among the orienteers. It's a really good prediction for the future!

Distinguish yourself in the forest;-)