Gromløpet (02/06/2013)

Not as brutal as I expected, lots of trails.

S-1 Played it safe, running all the way until I could see the trail junction, and then down.
1-2-3 Just a matter of jumping off of trails at the right time. OK.
3-4 Had trouble working out what to do, I don't handle all the trails well. I weaved around on them, aiming for the big hill before the control, and around it. I think I should have taken a straighter/less traily approach -- the hill from the road was pretty clear. But running in the terrain is slow and tiring that it's good to use trails when possible.
4-5 Again had a tough time deciding what to do, plus ran out of the control the wrong way to start, just a map&brain wrong way mistake. Decided to cut through the woods to the trail up the hill, cutting across where it flattened. But this was slow. Hard to imagine going all the way around is faster, but maybe cutting farther up over the marsh? Not sure what is best here.
5-6 Straight would probably have been fine here. Played it safe, though.
6-7 Too scared of missing to go fast!
7-8 Feel good about this one, had a plan, followed it, went fine.
8-9 Had a plan, let myself get pulled down too much. Recovered but probably cost 3 minutes or so. A few women hit the control as I did.
9-10 Hopping on the trail for a bit worked well for me - hit this one again as the others did, and they were certainly faster.
10-11 We all ran hastily to the left of the control and quickly recognized and recovered. Should have had a picture of that reentrant in my head (plus perhaps slightly better direction).
11-12-13-14-15-16 Quickly lost all the women who had caught me -- I was having trouble reading the trails, I usually think they're lines of cliffs, and they just flew ahead. Not much choice here, just jumping off of trails at the right time.
16-17-18-19-F Urban section, just to get us home, not much choice or possibility of screwing up. From splits it seems I'm definitely moving more slowly, even on the easy stuff. Makes the rest seem more tolerable, at least.