October

Hard to believe it's already October. At our house, we stubbornly refuse to turn on the heat until October 1... it was 61 degrees in my living room when I woke up this morning.

There's a lot to loook forward to this month. Of course, we all hope the Red Sox will be playing well into October. Their magic number for making the postseason is 2 (one win, one Cleveland loss) and for winning the pennant 3 (two wins against New York). Hard to believe it's been almost a year since Doug Mankiewicz caught that throw to first from Keith Foulke.

October is the best month for cross-country. The weather is usually cool and crisp, the scenery spectacular, and the meets are more exciting. Here's a sampling of what's coming up this month:

Oct 1 - Bay State Invitational (NNHS girls compete)
Oct 5 - Showdown between NNHS and Wellesley at Walpole
Oct 8 - Collegiate meet at Franklin Park with many NNHS alumni
Oct 8 - Manhattan Invitational in NYC, biggest HS meet in the East
Oct 15 - Brown Invitational in RI... will NNHS boys race there?
Oct 18 - NNHS Showdown with Weymouth (home)
Oct 25 - NNHS showdown with Brookline (away)
Oct 29 - BSC League meet

Hard to believe that in four short weeks the league season will have ended, and all but a couple of big meets will remain.

And of course, it will be colder and darker. In four weeks (October 30) we'll be turning our clocks back, marking the end of Daylight Savings time. In four weeks, we'll have 70 minutes less daylight every day, and the sun will set at 4:55 p.m. After-school runs will finish in the gloaming.

Hard to believe.