Orienteering at Terrace Oaks Park, Burnsville, MN

This week held a few "firsts" for 2010: first bike ride to work, first day with temps above 25C/80F and first O-Meet. A gorgeous day, a bit chilly in the morning and cool but with plenty of sunshine and a blue sky with white fair-weather clouds. I'd never been to Terrace Hill Park, always nice to have a new area.

The park is tiny, less than 1km wide and just barely more than 1km long, wedged between I-35E and Dakota County 11. But the setter did a great job teasing out a 6.5km red course from this postage stamp of an area and the many doglegs in the hilly, thickly overgrown park made it seem much larger. Per the Forerunner 305, I made 8.6km out of the 6.5 and I finished in a little more than 1 hr 34 mins. Eager to see the results.

I was glad that the trees and shrubs were leafless, this would have been very difficult under full leaf cover. Saw a nice white-tail very close. I always forget how big they are.

This was the first time I wore the Inov-8 Mudclaws during an O-event. After 3/4 of the race my heels started acting up. Two blisters, I will have to tape my heels next time. Other han that, they performed very well, nice and grippy, keeping a good feel for the ground.