Orienteering - Moore Hall - Pauline
Dry - Sunny - 3*C
Today I was looking forward to going Orienteering because I hadn't been in a long time. I don't think I have been Orienteering since 1st year. So I was looking forward to getting out and remembering how to do it! Also, I have been running a lot more recently so I was looking forward to testing my fitness as I ran from control to control around the forest. I think it was a good idea to get everybody back together again.
First of all, Pauline explained to us what we would be doing and the different map options. We then had to go and set up the course, this was good to know how to do, especially for the people doing the orienteering instructorship with Kevin.
Stacy, Liz & I had to place controls near to each other's so we just went together to put our controls in place. We checked our pacing with each other because Stacy wanted to check & Liz needed to double check for her Orienteering map for Kevin's class. Then we placed Liz's control, it said it was over a stream, but there wasn't one. Everything else looked right, and there was no stream further up, so we just assumed that the stream was dry or something. We then jogged to my control and on to Stacy's control. We then walked the road back to the car park to start the timed competition.
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| Liz getting down a control. |
I went first at 17minutes, Liz was right behind me, so we ended up doing it together. We had great craic running around trying to find the controls. It felt really good to be out in the fresh air with friends. Liz & I ran some and walked some. We didn't feel too pushed to run the whole thing.
Number 16 was very difficult to find and we met JT and Stacy around the same area looking for it too. We eventually found it but I think it had been placed in the wrong place. It just felt like it should have been in the depression further on...and everybody else's map skills told them the same.
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| Stamping my sheet. :) |
Then it was just on to number 17 along the wall and Liz and I ran to the finish to get our time off Pauline. I think I did it in about 35 minutes. I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad time, but I felt good after the exercise, so I don't really mind where I came in comparison to everybody else!
Today was a good first activity day back after Christmas & New Year. It was fun & we all got to be together doing the same thing. When I heard that we had to set up the course as well as do the course, I was a bit bummed out. But that was just laziness talking! I actually enjoyed setting it up in the end. And then doing the course was good craic.
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| Brian & Martin on the course. |
I hadn't done Orienteering since 1st year. In 1st year, I didn't enjoy Orienteering very much. This could be due to my lack of experience in map work and not really knowing what to do. However, it was interesting to see how I had improved in my map skills after my MS and ML1&2 training. It was amazing how much easier I found it and how much more I enjoyed it.
I wanted to do the second course, but we didn't have time to do both. Whereas last time I was orienteering, I couldn't wait for it to be over and when I got back I was hoping they wouldn't tell me to go again.
This shows that I have grown up and learnt a lot more as an individual since then.
I could feel the fitness that I have gained from running more recently. Since the new year I have been running every single day and when I started, I couldn't run for more than 2 minutes without stopping. Now I have managed to get that up to 15 minutes and the breaks that I need to catch my breath back are getting shorter and shorter. It feels really good. :)
Environmental Interest of the day...
Today I saw lots of Ivy growing around the forest floor and up trees. I think it was Hedera Helix. It is generally considered a vine but is actually a climbing shrub. It grows better in the shade during the juvenile stage because only the reproductive adult phase can tolerate high light conditions.
The berries for this Ivy are often used for tanning leather and dying textiles.
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