Orienteering!

Hey, Folks!

So this last week has been largely uneventful. Mostly just studying and more studying.

The one fun thing I did do was go with Andrew to an orienteering event. Andrew is an avid orienteer(er?), and I'd gone to events before and just hung out in the car studying while he and his parents went out running, but this last Saturday was an event that was in a fairly straightforward area, so I decided to try it!

So, in case you don't know what orienteering is, and you don't feel like clicking the link above, it's basically a navigation race. You are handed a map at the start, with red circles representing each control, which you have to hit in a certain order, either using an electronic reader or, in this case, a card that you punch with each control's unique hole punch.

*

The map! The little table on the left represents each control, and what it looks like. For example: control 1 is a path bend, 2 is the east side of a tree stump, 3 is the west side of a tree stump, etc. On the map itself, the line is the 'as the crow flies' route, which you may or may not be able to do depending on what's in your way!
*
Andrew followed me making sure I knew what I was doing, and helping me figure out what everything on the map meant. I didn't need TOO much help though, so I mostly just enjoyed his company :P
*
Trying to find the next control
*

It's quite an interesting concept, and I enjoyed it a lot, even though I wasn't really doing it in a competitive fashion, and was just walking it instead of running. The only downside was that something got stuck in my contact about 2/3 of the way through, and I couldn't get it out, so had to just throw the contact away, and do the rest semi-blind. Still managed it though, and got a fairly decent time (49:20 and 16th out of 30).

Anyway, next Monday is my birthday, so the Saturday before I'm going to be going bowling with my friends, which should be fun. Not sure I want to be another year older, but I'm still excited anyway. :)