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Smelling the Roses

I traveled to North Carolina this week and usually travel via Interstate 40.   Coming back I took a short cut thru the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  It is shorter as the crow flies, but time wise it is a couple hours more.  I decided that sometimes you need to smell the roses or they will die and you will miss them.   The roses up on top of the Smokies smell and look pretty good.  What a view!  Next week I will be out West and may get a chance to visit the Grand Canyon.  Even though it is the prime tourist season, I may try to hike a bit.  The elevation is around 7000 feet, and I will have ,to wait and see how I adjust to the thin air.  If I adjust well, I will do some hiking, otherwise just smell the roses with some site seeing.

I finally got out on the track today and ran some sprints.  I worked on running 400 and 300 meters with the same time for the first section as the last.  I also experimented with a new parachute to get tired for the first section and then drop it off for the section and maintain the speed.  I liked the parachute option and will continue to work with that combination.  My left leg did hurt some, but for whatever reason, my work out was not hampered, it just hurt.

A shout out the local speedsters.  William Yelverton ran a 55.29 second 400 m at the USATF Masters meet in Jacksonville  last week. He was the US champ in the 55 to 59 class and will go to Lyon, France to run the World Championships!   William lives just North of Chattanooga, TN.  Go get'em.
David Schmanski of Nashville won the 800 m at the same meet in the 60 to 64 class. He also was involved with a gold medal  4 x 400 relay and world record 4 x 800 relay!!   Pretty good results for the local talent.

Tennessee is quickly becoming the a real hotbed for seniors running talent.  Hopefully we can continue the exceptional level of excellence.

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