I don't expect to be updating these pages until the end of July, at which time I hope to have a nice collection of maps, routes, pics, and stories.

I'll be at WMOC; I don't really love WMOC like other races -- too crowded, too stuffy, silly format, and bizarre rules, but the forest, location, and maps look cool, and it seems like a good warmup for other races. They're also mixing in a old town sprint, and those are always enjoyable.

This may be my last WMOC, at least for a while, so I'll have to make it count (while WMOC '08 in Leira Wood, Portugal, looks to die for, I doubt 4000 people, summer heat, and fighting for overpriced hotels 50K from the venue can compete with the week I spent there in the winter with an empty hotel and 20 other runners on 2 A-meet quality training courses a day).

The goal, of course, would be to make the A final, and while that was obtainable (and obtained, IMHO) in M35, where half the field make it, making it in M40 will be tougher, where about a third of the field look to make the cut this year. I thought about gaming the system by registering for M35, as I'm running as well as I ever have presently, and I felt making the top half would be pretty likely, but what would be the point? The only real regret is that the M35 courses are longer. Fortunately, I've registered to run longer courses in other races.

It looks like they are doing about 10 controls over 8k the first day, and in excess of 20 the second day over a similar distance. It almost looks like they are doing the long/middle thing, but keeping classic-length courses. Well, I guess we'll see.

And, of course, we'll be there to cheer on Peter and Sharon as they run for world championships.

In other news, I've once again nominated someone for a Silva award. While this may or may not be my last WMOC, it is without question my last stint on the USOF board, and I might as well try to leave with some sort of positive contribution -- at least by way of attempting to recognize someone who without question as contributed a ton of personal time and resources to make competitive (and recreational) orienteering happen.