More Street-O

I've continued to enjoy weekly rogaining this winter. I had to take some time off because of an injury, which just about broke my heart. But now it feels extra good to be back.

Twice now, there has been a raging snowstorm during rogaining. I confess that tonight, I found myself questioning my life choices. It was dark and freezing cold, with snow falling in a hard wind to my face, and I was running through deep snow in the forest. I wasn't exactly sure where I was: I was only sure that I had five more minutes to get to the finish line. I tried to follow the path with the most broken-in footprints on the snow, but as I got farther into the forest, the footprints got fewer and fewer. "Why are you here, and what are you doing?" was running on a loop in my head. And then a few meters later, I burst out of the forest and back into civilization, within sight of the finish line.

I think passers-by sometimes question my life choices, too. It must be the weirdest thing, to be minding your own business out walking your dog or whatever and then, between the hours of 18-20, have your neighborhood invaded by people wearing stretchy pants, head lamps, and reflective vests, clutching maps and sharpies. I got some major side-eye tonight, and some accidental help from a homeowner who was out shoveling his driveway at the end of a lane. "Are you looking for the sähkökaapi?" he asked (the clue was to write down the number on the electrical cabinet). I was obviously not the first weirdo to run down his street that night.

The best part is that I get to spend some time with Jeremy. Well, we don't actually spend the time together since we each run our own course, but there's the pre-orienteering recon we do on maps beforehand, and then the post-orienteering debriefing session where we review our route choices.

The season is coming to an end soon, and I will definitely miss my weekly rogaining!