Four weeks to go... FOUR WEEKS!!! until the World Championship Cross Country race in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland. The wind, the rain, the mud, and the hills. Ahhh. True cross country, where XC was born, some would say, and where it was meant to be run. A course that separates the cross country athletes from the track athletes. It is two different sports you know. Sure, both are running, but there are but a few athletes that can do both well. Less and less, as runners, spectators, and fans, are we given the opportunity to admire the talented cross country athletes. To truly reveal who are cross country runners, a course like the Edinburgh course is a necessity. In recent years, especially in the US, there has been a rejection of the courses that differentiate the smooth rythmic track runners from the brute force of the cross runners. Yes, that is the nature of cross country, the shifting courses, the unpredicatbility of the weather and the surface, and the magnitude of the hills. And I praise that about the sport, but you have to admit that it's fun to get muddy from time to time, and if you're real lucky, bloody too. Here we go...