Training Log Archive: bill_l

Event: 2012 North American Orienteering Championships
 

I'll say up front: NAOC was one of the best A-meets that I have attended. I wish we had the resources and attendance to provide an equal experience here in the midwest (St. Louis). Perhaps someday. In the meantime, I'm glad that OCIN/OLOU and OK/PTOC are providing a-meet opps within driving distance.

Because of the injuries and lack of training, my personal goals for the weekend were as follows:
1) don't get hurt
2) navigate cleanly
3) finish the middle and long courses under the time limit

I am very happy that I accomplished all three.

Our itinerary took us into LGA on an 8:00AM flight, which arrived in NYC roughly on time. We picked up our rental about noon, expecting a RAV4 but instead found a Yukon (what a tank!) and headed for Guy's neighborhood for some local Italian cuisine . One of those hole-in-the-wall, strip-mall places that you wish you had in your own neighborhood.

After some great pizza & fried mozzarella sticks, we left Guy (he hadn't finished packing yet) and made a bee-line for the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) in order to get out on the model map before dark.

PEEC was the event HQ, Sprint venue, and our lodging site. (We'd booked early, and went in on a 6 person cabin with fellow STLers Rick and Fran A., which i thought worked out really well. Hope R & F thought so too! :) ) We arrived around 4, picked up our packets, linens, and pillows and headed for the cabin to change into O gear and hit the model map. Rick and Fran had arrived earlier in the day and already done the model so Rick accompanied L & B on the more Yellow/Orangey controls while I did some of the Greener. I found some thorns, a lot of thick veg, and deadfall o-plenty on my part of the map, but after the first couple of controls felt quite comfortable with the map. Especially the contours and rock features, and so, except for the veg, I felt pretty good about the coming days.

PEEC is a center, run by the NPS, that caters to groups. They have cabins and lodges, yurts, meeting rooms, a dining hall, hiking trails, etc. The cabin we stayed in was a fairly new duplex. Each half had 3 metal frame bunk-beds and a bathroom in a 12x12ish room (bath room tucked in one corner of the shared wall). A very good electric/oil heater and a ceiling fan rounded out the amenities. After the nearby campground the next closest lodging was at least 25-30 minutes away on a busy, twisty county road. PEEC, with shuttle buses to the venues and on-site dining was a great choice.