First time in Hunedoara

Last weekend I was for the first time in Hunedoara, a nice city where we had the first stage in Parc National Champs and the Selection XC Race for the national team in orienteering. We all knew that we would run at Izvoru Muresului, like we did the last 2 years but the big snow in Izvoru Muresului made the organizers change the competition city.
The month of march for me was a curse for the last 3 years, and the selection race was always with big problems (2010 - food poisoning, 2011 - ankle sprain, 2012 - shin splints). This march wasn`t any better and I had to rest for about 3 weeks due to shin splints, but with a big miracle, one week before Hunedoara I could start running again but very slow.
As I was lacking intensity in training in the past weeks I knew that I don`t have any big chances in the sprint. I started the race a bit slower because I wanted to get very good contact with the map. I did 2 wrong route choice that costed me around 20 second and I also lost another 20 second when I fell down and hurt my knee on the asphalt.

I was 6th only 30 second away from the 3rd spot. Suciu Simion won the first stage and is in pole position to win the overall rank.
I wasn`t very sure about Sunday because I was lacking both running and uphill/downhill training in the last period. My plan was to run the long distance course - 12km (400m climb) - most of the senior class ran 6km (sprint) and 8km (middle distance).

 I started slower than most because I wanted to take time for my body, to see how it reacts to fast running again. I started pushing after the second lap and was passed a lot of people and also catched my friend Marian Ciprian (who I knew was running 12km, but he stopped at 8km). 

We were running together , each other leading for parts of the race. Meanwhile we were seeing the leading group going faster and faster (Suciu, Tamas, Szoby). After Marian Ciprian stopped I was alone and I started to feel the lack of training for a moment but I managed to push my body for the last 2 laps and finished for the first time in 3 years of running this race.

Results Sprint
Results XC Selection Race
Map Sprint

Shin Splints & Postavaru Night 2012

Update: RESULTS

After Piatra Mare, I rested for one day and the next day I started running again I noticed a big pain in my right tibia. I finished my run but on the way home I could barely walk because of the pain. The pain was caused by Shin splints. I decided to rest and let the injury cure. I didn`t run until Postavaru Night and went there just to enjoy the race, nothing more. I thought that because the race would have been on snow I won`t feel any pain but I was so wrong!
I started a bit from the back and had to push a bit in the beginning to make it to the front pack. The problem was that after 1.5 km the pain started to appear and it was growing. I had to slow down on the big climbs because of it. The bad part was that I choose to run in the VJ Bold, to have a better grip on the big slopes, but that was the worst decision I could take because my feet were so cold that I just couldn`t feel them when I was stepping down..

I finished in 41min and something, far away from I know I can do but I just have to settle for this for the moment.
After the race we went to the cabin for the party. It was great to meet again with very nice people, good friends. The atmosphere was really nice and I could only wish we stayed a bit longer, but the bus was waiting for us so we had to leave at around 12:00.

The downhill was incredible, running on the perfect slopes, with a clear sky and only a headlight made me remember the joy of running.
Today I tried running again but still the pain was there after 1.5 km.....
I feel so bad right now and I just don`t know what can I do to make it go away because I feel very depressed at the moment...
I will post the results as soon as the organizers will put it on their web page. My next goal is to cure this injury and run the first stage of the Sprint National Championships and the cross running selection race for the orienteering national team.