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Motivation to sit down and create has been limited in the last few months.  We are trying to sell our house and I am trying to get my career restarted and neither activity is bearing much fruit.   We show the house and we are just not getting the response we need to get it sold and that is frustrating. You need to stage it for each viewing and that does require some work and planning.    It reminds me of the movie Ground Hog Day, nothing really gets better, but you are a day older.

The career search is constantly ongoing.  I have had several phone interviews and along the way, I think there were several jobs that I could handle and do well.   Nothing has clicked to date, and I currently have 3 or 4 prospects that are talking to me, but no face to face interviews yet.  If I can get in front of them, I like my chances to close the deal....    Getting your career restarted in your sixties is not easy.

I had some conflicts this summer for Tennessee Senior Games qualifiers and went to Chattanooga yesterday to qualify for next summers Tennessee State Finals, which in turn qualifies for the Nation Games in the summer of 2021.   The Senior Games is a Ponzi scheme you must stay in to move up the ladder of meets.    In the summer of 2021, I will be in the 65-69 year old category and I will be the youngest that can compete, so it is my advantage to get in the show for the Nationals in Fort Lauderdale.

In Chatanooga, Lyon Fleming also competed in my age group and dusted my butt in the 50, 100, and 200.  My times were as expected, between 90 to 95 % of my best times.  Lyon is just too strong for me to challenge this late in the season.    I am glad he is healed up and back on the race track.  He had a bad calf injury and missed two seasons and this was his return meet.  He has also moved to Chattanooga and has gotten married in the meantime, so time does move along for everyone.

I also ran the 400 to get qualified in a training run time.  I was really bushed after running three hard sprints in 2 hours.   The High Jump was also scheduled, but the facility canceled that event and I will pass through and jump in the State.   These qualifier meets are just go go go and I get run down due to the lack of recovery time.  In the State, you jump Friday and run two races on Saturday and two on Sunday and that I can handle much better.  But you got to qualify and you go through the drill. 

When I returned home, I was really tired and sore as well.   Linda and I had Jason Isbell tickets for a show at the Ryman and I was just too worn out to go even after a nap.  That is tired because he puts on a great show. Linda found a willing friend to take my place and I watched the Cowboys kick the crap out of the Eagles for a while and went to bed after eating everything lose in the house. 

I am finished racing for the season and I do not have any injury problems to correct--thankfully.  I will continue to work on my strength and endurance in the cooler months and look forward to running indoors in February.  I did make a spike change that has really been a huge benefit to my feet.  I bought some Adidas Distancestar racing spikes.  I picked up a white pair for $12 on Amazon.  I know they look boring, but they were $40 cheaper than the fancy colors.   They fit great and are comfortable enough that I wear them during training, which I rarely did before. I had been having really sore feet and my right ankle hurts after meets and this design of spike has really reduced the foot and ankle pain problem.  They have a very stiff sole plate which does a lot less flexing on the turns and on starts and just seem to provide great foot protection.  Traction is good as well, they use 5 spikes, and I have a lot of confidence in this shoe.  I started using spikes with more heel last year and this shoe has enough heel to keep my calves happy as well.   It appears that getting away from the high tech lightweight spikes is the best thing for my feet.

Thanks Adidas. 

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