ROTC and a new swim PB

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave... - Patrick Henry

I rode the exercise bike yesterday at lunch - a hill workout no less. I hate these exercise bikes at the gym but they are a good workout. The interval hills that I did required for me to stand up on the machines to just keep the cadence in the 60's - this is tough stuff.

This morning I did a easy, quick 4 mile run on the trace in my sorta-fast, sorta- flats racing shoes. I put a set of yanks on them the other day so I needed to test them out prior to the 5k race on Saturday. The running was an out and back and I passed the ROTC crowd - they were coming at me - I guess it is that time of year. I do not see them on cold mornings - on those days they train on the basketball court in the fitness center. Don't get me wrong, I completely respect anyone who enlists for military service - but some mornings when I ride my bicycle to work and they are taking up the entire multi-use trail - it can be a pain to get around them.

As I turned around on my out and back I was thinking these thoughts. There were many ROTC'ers in front of me and 'patrolling' the long leaf trace. They were lined up on both edges of the asphalt all decked out in their fatigues and carrying M-16's (I don't think that they are real - but they do look real!) As I started to pass the back few one of them yelled 'Shift Right!' It was pretty cool. They all moved over to the right and it created an entire lane for me to run. However, it did force me to pick the pace up a little so that I did not look like I was loafing off. I finished the 4 miles in just over 32 minutes.

At lunch I had my last swim class. We took it easy and did a lot of drills. I need to remember to keep a high elbow on the recovery, reach out really far, enter the water with my finger tips and not cross my center line. I really enjoyed the class and the attention of someone that knows how to swim. I also did one 100 yard time trial and finished in 1:16. This has been time well spent in the pool. Now I just need to put these skills to practice and really increase the volume over the next month.