Once upon a time

I got fired a week ago.

As you may recall the pool has been green all summer. Mrs. T has been belly-aching about not getting to float aimlessly in a clean pool so she hired a bonded licensed pool guy who does a neighbor's pool. I got my walking papers. In a week's time Jose has shown us that there is a bottom to our pool and reminded us that pool water can be blue if you throw enough chemicals in it.

So today it's cloudy. Not much of a pool day.

I went to see a high school cross country meet this morning. Our Winter Park state champs were to face some stiff competition. The meet director is an old former West Point grad with ties to the Hudson Valley area. He invited Warwick Valley HS down last year and they came again this year. They were incredible. Their boys finished 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7th to win the meet. Columbus high came up from Miami and finished a strong second. Winter Park had to contend with another local high school for third and fell short. Not a good day for The Park. I wouldn't want to be at practice on Monday.

Practice. I have been practicing too. I did 8x800s on Tuesday. I should have stuck to 10K pace but did the first two at 5K pace. The last six repeats deteriorated over time to a just a bit slower than 10K pace. I finished and felt good.

Thursday I went out for five miles of hill work. I like hill work like some people hate speed work but I felt better for it. Hill work does a body good to build strength and stamina. I could feel it in my legs today mowing the yard. Is that possible after one hill workout? Don't tell me. Let me believe it is so.

Tomorrow. I have a run date with one of our principals tomorrow. Susan cannot stand to run alone for long distances, her usual run mate has schedule problems, and she asked if I was available this weekend. Of course, I said yes :). We're going 15 starting at 600. Susan's running the Nike Marathon out west. I forget when it is but that's her race.