Tøffen

I have been in Oslo since the end of November, as Thomas got a job here. There was some snow in the middle of December, but it melted and it has generally been slightly warmer than usual (albeit still icy). 

The Nipen family and I ran a long race after xmas, which is always run in the same area from the Larvik orienteering clubhouse. It has been put on for many years, however it is sometimes cancelled due to poor weather. Here is the map from 2003 that Olav showed us ahead of time (with his route). 

It was a mass start for all the courses at once (but the shorter courses had a different first control). All in all it lived up to its name, which means tough. The shorter course is called Tøffeln, which roughly translates to slipper. 

I tried out my new waterproof/breathable socks that I got for xmas. This is the 2nd time I used them, this time under my orienteering socks instead of over (which meant they stayed up better). I can say that they kept my feet dry for the first ~30 minutes, until water slowly seeped its way in (probably at least partly from going into water above the ankle - since they only come to my lower calf). However, I think they still kept my feet warmer, since new cold water did not cycle through as much.  

You can see my route below, along with annotations about where I made mistakes and what changes to my route would have been better. 

You can also see the top two men's routes: Øystein's route (1st), and Ander's route (2nd). Mathias's (3rd) and Thomas's (4th) routes are roughly some combination of these two, since it is mass start and there was some pack running ;).

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!