Jukola 2017 (2017-06-17)

Second leg, my favourite. However I didn't notice that it would be the longest leg of the relay this year. Never mind, just go for it. Training sessions this year fall a bit short from this distance. Goal, 1h45min with a clean run, 1h52min max if I want to be satisfied. Brother did well on leg 1, I get to start in about possition 221. Long run to K-point, plenty of time to scout out the route to the first control. 1) Keep a steady pace suitable for me, no point in rushing, many many runners go past. (I will see many of those same shirts later on, about once every 2km on average). 1 cup of water, perfect timing, had a dry mouth. Know perfectly well where I enter the green area 300m before the first ontrol. However I was not focused enough and got confused by the area. First mistake done, sorted it out straight away though. 2) Feels like the GPS line is a bit straighter than my line was. Cross the ditch, hit some rocks, realize my direction is bad, try to correct direction. No idea what I'm doing or where the control is supposed to be. See something lurking in the shadows, find it straight away, very lucky! 3) Supposed to go straight for the big track but get stuck on the small one, plagued by indesicion, lost time unnecessarily, at least the small track goes straight to the control. 4) Lots of peolpe around, just run in line with the others. 5) First "hill" to climb. Take it slow, try to go straight, people are spread out here others must have made mistakes here, I didn't. 6) Still running in a line of people. This one caused no problem. 7) Straight with compass, just pass the power line pillars. Think I go under control 172, correct towards my control accordingly. Hit an open spot in the forest. Two runners in front realize straight away their mistake. Me and someone else take a few seconds, can't find the open spot on the damn map. I see others down the slope, go there without really being sure where I am and where I'm going. Straight on the control, lucky again. 8) Lots of people, just follow the line. 9) Transport stretch. Caffeine Gel and 2 cups of water. 10) Steep climb, very careful towards the control, straight on. 11) Slightly unfocused, compass on and go. End up following some tracks and distant runners backs. Didn't plan on my route here but happy with the way it went. Not much to do but follow the tracks and run. If I remember correctly there was a tv camera here, and I tought the guy was smoking like a chimney. Cursed in my head before I realized that thick smell must have emanated from a bonfire of mosquito repellents. 12) Compass again, but was distracted by others. Realize where I am and correct accordingly. I think the GPS line is off here, I feel like I was a bit further up at the rocks under the control ring and did a sharper 90 degree turn towards the control when I realized my mistake. 13) Road is too far away, others seems to have had the other controls or avoided the green area. I go straight, first north of the cliff with the many rocks, press through the green, north of the big rock. Read the height formations and make it to the control without problems. 14) Lots of people around again. Not much to say, I follow the others. 15) Half way towards the control it is slow going, I'm not sure what I'm searching for, try to keep it straight. End up running dead on, getting tired. 16) Worst mistake of the night. Supposed to climb, descend, climb again and descend towards the control. Loose track and search for the control too early. Small bump in the GPS line but it contains a lot of standing still and map reading. I can't understand why the control is not there. In the end I realize I must do something. Nobody else is searching here so I join one of the two lines of runners that descend the hill and climb the next. Make an additional small hitch and than finally find the control. 17) Take my second Caffeine Gel and two cups of water. Nice bear as control point. 18) Slow ass green area, should perhaps have gone around it to the right. 19) The small track just after the control looked suspiciously like a power line... Think I know perfectly where I decend towards the control. Either have a bad line or got further than I tought. Find myself on the wrong side of the big rock. Go get the control. 20) Difficult control ahead. Keep my own straight line. Lots of people around but I'm alone on my route. Find it perfectly. 21) Spend precious seconds reading the map. Decide on thaking the right route, with some tracks. Didn't intend on getting so close to the tower on the first hill. But the tracks were nice and the swamp was easy to cross (unlike swamps at home). Followed a runner here that I had seen overtake me at least 4 times so far :). We left the track a bit early. But I had to take initiative and press through the green area. Once comitted you just push through. Down to the next green border and follow that. Got my bearings at control 71 and had no problem finding my control from there. Some other people around. 22) Head fo the control in a small group of runners. No problems here. 23) Straight on, others around the place. I spot the control and have others behind me now. 24) Pause to read th map. I'll go left. Climb the hill. Get overtaken in the climb. End up on the track, control caused no problems from this direction. 25) Check direction and follow the others. Straight on. 26) Road running. 27) More road running. Fighting to keep up with the people closest in front. Want to give our next runner people to go out with. Finnish) Manage to overtake a few runners on the last bit of running on this course, some of them who have overtaken me repeatedly in the forest. Conclusion: I made many mistakes, about 30s-1min. But overall I'm very happy. I enjoyed my night out very much. My time was about 1h51min. With a clean run 1h45min would have been possible, could perhaps even have been a bit faster. I lost about 22 places on my leg. So of those 40 that overtook me on the tracks to the first control I managed to claw back half. The 20ish teams that managed to take me could not have gotten far. Staffi on leg 3 overtook about 20 teams just to the first radio control. I'm happy but spent.