Sitting in Montepulciano in Tuscany, half a bottle of wine in my belly along with prosciutto, pesto, cheese and olives (and that's just the entree); it's easy to gloss over what was an incredible week and move on to the next adventure. However while I'm feeling a bit whimsical I thought I would take advantage of the internet and keep up my diary/blog thingy.
The official WOC week started in Venice with the sprint. I had so been looking forward to this race, the qualification race was on Burano and the final in Venice. This was it....and I stuffed it. Whoops.
Very humbling to get absolutely creamed by the rest of my heat. I know I had the legs to qualify for the final, all the splits show I was running fast enough but that rather large 1 minute mistake was the killer. Ahhh well you live and learn. I think a combination of race experience and getting way too nervous/excited at the start were my downfall but that's ok, that's why I'm staying on this side of the world! Knowing that I had the speed is a good motivator, I know I can train for it physically just need to get the map reading side down and I'll be away laughing.
After a consolation gelato (double scoop for the disappointed runner, screw this athlete business) it was awesome to watch Lizzie race the final in Venice and come in 13th place. Next year.
The next day it was off up into the mountains to our new home for the week in Lavarone. The initial reaction when we got there was "Good lord, they've accidentally put us in an old people's home! At least it's not as bad as the Finnish hospital". Turns out we were in the right place and LOTS of REALLY old people go up into the mountains for the summer holidays. Some highlights of being with oldies:
- The average age was around 80, until we turned up.
- There was a bell for dinner time that they rang incessantly until everyone turned up, just looking out for the deaf ones.
- You could hear the Tour de France commentary even when you were through 2 doors and about 100m away, great for multi-tasking.
- The neighbouring room to Immy and I provided a non-stop Italian commentary in very loud voices. We concluded both were deaf and therefore yelling at all times was required.
- The food was great, for old people. You get the gist.
- We could say whatever we liked, no one spoke english except for one of the waitresses. Her night off she left us a handwritten note of what was for dinner.
- It was quite a peaceful place with a slow pace of life, a nice contrast to racing. But seriously slow, I reckon I got stuck behind someone with a walking stick at least 20 times and they were so blimmin unstable on their feet it was easier to just plod along behind.
- The beds were great, the showers not so much. Immy and I had some pretty amusing discussions of ways in which the old people would be able to even get into the shower.
The next race was the sprint relay where I got to have 1st start, followed by Tim, Ross and lastly Lizzie. It was based down in Trento and a seriously fun race, apart from the thunder and lightning and pelting rain. The mass start was mildly daunting with crowds of people cheering and yelling. Luckily they were all yelling for the top girls so no pressure for me. And then the heavens opened and we were off!
The race was pretty much a running race, just trying to keep in sight of the top girls whilst staying on my feet. From all reports there were a few very irate locals that didn't know the race was one and were not happy to have 30+ people careening around the corner on the wet marble. More than a few people did some sweet slides and ended up in the gutters after taking the corners too fast. NZ had some pretty good legs and ended up 14th, not bad for a first try!
Next up for me was the long in Lavarone, it was long, really long. My only goal for this race was to do well enough to get us another spot so we can have 2 runners at next years WOC in Scotland. With a 37th place it was mission accomplished! Not my best performance either technically or physically. The top girls are just so damn fast and strong that it really puts you in your place. At least now I have more of an idea of what sort of level I need to be for next year. This year was always going to be a big learning year for me so in that respect it was a great day.
At least I finished it in good Greta form. I was running at the end with Liis (a friend from Estonia) and a Hungarian girl. On the way to the second to last control I managed to perform an epic bail right after passing the other 2, straight into the stinging nettle. My hands were partially numb for the next 2 days!! Liis and I had a good laugh about it afterwards.
To top it off running into the last control, in front of the tv camera's, spectators, everyone who's anyone and was at WOC; I managed to knock the control over and end up on the ground in the mud. I still hadn't punched it and neither had the other 3 bearing down on me as I desperately tried to stand it up again. Eventually after what felt like an age someone came to help us, at which point I could hear Malcolm yelling exasperatedly at me to "just run!". I thought it was pretty amusing, as did Lizzie who was too busy laughing at me to cheer. Wouldn't be right if I didn't embarrass myself one way or another!
This was followed by the middle and then the relay. Lizzie smashed the middle to get 20th and the relay was good but nothing spectacular.
And then obviously the most important bit, the party.
WOC party is a laugh. Whoever came up with the idea is a genius, 'let's get 200 really fit people together after a week of full on racing and give them free booze'. Always going to be a success.
I didn't get any photos but we looked great in Venetian aprons and sailor hats. The night ended at 4am trying to hitch the 3k back to the hotel through the winding mountain roads. A surprising success, mind you given my apron was a very toned, brown bikini body it does make a bit of sense.
This week has been an awesome motivator of what's possible but also my priorities. The top girls are generally professional athletes and have been doing this their whole lives. While I would love to be a professional athlete the bank account says no. I'm also pretty ready for a break from orienteering after 7 weeks of it full-time. I love it but not that much, so many other fun things to see and do in life as well.
Next running plans for me are Swiss O Week in Zermatt in a week, then keen to find a few awesome off road races to do somewhere in Europe, focus on sprint orienteering and just enjoy the club environment in Uppsala.
In the meantime, bring on the holiday!!!
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