Note
TROL Camp, possibly Number 7.
Low turnout, but probably the best and most coherent set of presentations we've ever had. Definitely a group effort. There's so little time, believe it or not, that you have to distill down the material to the bare minimum, *and* you have to make it as interesting as possible and avoid spending too much time on a minor (or worse---boring) topic.
We agreed to interrupt or signal when something was getting boring, and I don't think we ever did. We did interrupt each other often to add detail or explain something in a slightly different way---mostly things we've figured out from previous years.
Two special presentations: Joe Ratermann, who emphasized keeping a notebook with race maps that have been marked up with route choices. In the future, we should add a few minutes to show how to draw your route without obscuring the map: with highlighter or pen---mostly I'm talking about using > > > > on trails so the ink doesn't obscure the linear feature; and Addison Bosley, who talked about his two summer trips to Europe. He showed two maps, both from Scandinavian terrain and discussed the need to ignore small details and to simplify the terrain into large features as much as possible when running legs.
I meant to mention (and failed) that the nearest terrain similar to Scandinavian terrain to us in OCIN is SMOC (Southern Michigan), at least for some of their maps.
In the future, we should have a small packet of handouts for schedules, some reference materials, such as control descriptions or map legends. We should think about what to include.
I liked having Orange last.
I definitely need to work on charts well before the night before camp starts. (hint hint, with fingers pointing directly at me)
I think we should think about a set of charts for arriving and leaving a control---the part that should be automatic---as an addition to Pat's charts about the pre-planning process that is more cerebral and logical. I'm used to sports psychology ideas where you think about the process before and after, but not during. So I'm imagining sort of a normal "automatic" or "flow" process of arriving at a control, punching, and then planning and leaving.
Huge thanks to David Williams and Katie for help with the food and random other things.