It's been a busy month and I've barely had
time to absorb everything that has happened. After things started to roll,
they've rolled really fast. I've just enjoyed the flow and at some point I lost
the grip from reality while trying to reach for the sky. Ever since I started
to run again (less than two months ago), everything has gone dancing forward so
fast and smoothly that I believed to be a superwoman who would never get tired.
But I wasn't. After some serious hammering I finally met with the wall. But
let's back up a bit to the World Cup in Spain where I reached my personal best
World Cup result.
So after good runs in the Danish Spring I got selected to run World Cup in Spain. When I got the call I had no idea
where, when and in what kind of terrain it would be. Initially it wasn't in my calendar and I hadn't thought of running there because it was so close to the European
Champs. But now that I wasn't in the EOC team, I had nothing to lose, and I was
thrilled to get there. Then, just a few days before going there, Minna
announced that she wouldn't run EOC because of her injuries and it opened up a
new possibility to get into the team. Message was clear: do a good run and you might have a chance to get Minna's place in the
team. Suddenly I was very motivated to run well.
The overlong long distance race on the
hills of Murcia under the hot Spanish sun was one of the best and most
challenging international long distance races that I've ever run. As hard as it
felt while running, I really loved it. I could have taken a few more drink
stations on the way and a few extra gels, but still, it was quite amazing race. I
cannot describe the feeling when I opened the map and saw the first leg. After
some consideration I rejected all winding route choices and went straight. I lost quite a
bit of time by doing so, but managed to keep my head cool, hold my
orienteering together and push hard until the end. As a prize I got my first
ever top6 position at World Cup, and a reserve place to EOC as a bonus. Results
 |
| a masterpiece of a course |
On the following day I was still too
exhausted to race and I probably should have skipped the middle distance,
especially if I wanted to recover in time for the European Champs. But once
you're selected to run for your country, you're supposed to run.
After Spain I got back home for one day
before traveling again to Portugal. And in the next morning I was already
running the middle distance qualification race at EOC. My head wasn't really
there and I felt a bit stressed but qualified safely anyway. In the long qualification
I felt already better and did a good run except a leg where I got badly stuck
in some brambles. But I saw from the splits that my speed was good and I felt fairly
confident before the finals.
In the middle distance final I had a good
run except two controls where I lost a bit over a minute all in all. Not bad
but too much on such an easy course. I was 18th but only 30sec behind the 10th
place, so it wasn't that bad. Just awfully many girls within that half a
minute. "I can do better on the long" I thought. Results
I had a good feeling before the long
distance final but once I had started to run I noticed quite early that the
springy legs I had had before were gone and my running felt slow and
ineffective. I tried to tell my legs to go faster but they wouldn't listen. I
did technically a very good performance but physically I was really struggling.
Because of the tired legs I used paths more than necessary and lost therefore even
more on the long legs 6-7 and 11-12 because the straight route was always the
fastest. I did my best on that day, but still, 19th place felt disappointing in the light of my previous long distance performances in Spain
and Denmark. On the other hand, just making it to the team was an
achievement for me so soon after the injury. Considering where I was two months
ago, I guess I should be happy with my two top20 positions. Or as my aunt put
it: you did pretty well in the disabled class. Results
It's easy to be smart afterwards but it was
indeed a pretty tough combination to run both middle and long at EOC. None of
the women who did this combination celebrated on the long distance. Signe Soes,
who won the middle on the day before, was the best of us with her 6th place in the long final. Even
fewer athletes ran first the World Cup events (long + middle) in Spain in the
preceding week and then the same combo with qualification races at the Europeans. A few
of the very best tried that, but even they failed. So it's no wonder that I
failed. Take home message from the European Champs is clear: focus only on your
main target and forget everything else. Don't be greedy!
One more thing. After all negative
feedback, big thanks to the EOC organizers trying to solve everything the best
way even if there was more hassle than usually. Especially pulling off two new
long distance courses overnight and getting it all right was impressive. Finals
were fair and the best athletes won.
All results, maps and
tracking from EOC here
