New Route in Austin

Today I flew in to Austin for a few days of work and late this afternoon ran a mostly new route. The path took me into a big park on the north side of Austin after running along I road I've been on before. Once I got into the park I was a little worried since it was pretty warm, humid, and uphill going back. It wasn't too bad, though, and the path in the park was less uphill than I feared. I did walk a couple of times due to the heat, but overall it was a good run. I'm also trying to eat well even when I'm on the road and stuck with street tacos instead of a big dinner of bbq, steak, or seafood with accompanying big mug of beer. It was tough but it also feels good to not go off the deep end. That'll be tomorrow night.

Good Pace

I waited until after noon for today's run since it was on the cool side this morning. When I checked the temperature at run time was 53 degrees. That turned out to be a fantastic zone for my run. I originally put on a long-sleeved technical t-shirt, but decided at the last minute to switch to short sleeves. That also turned out to be a good move.

I usually run according to what feels comfortable as opposed to shooting for a specific time, at least when I'm not in training for a race. When I hit the first mile I was surprised to see my time in the low 9's, and the second mile was a second faster. Each successive mile went by faster, and by the time I was into the fifth and sixth miles I was under 9. I never felt like the effort was too much, and the temperature and almost non-existent breeze kept me feeling good. At the end of my 7-miler my overall pace was 9:09. Not too bad of a non-race Saturday run for a guy who just turned 50.

Hot and Windy

Hot being a relative term, of course. The temperature was 86 degrees when I hit the sidewalk this afternoon, with a nice wind out of the southwest. The wind was great when it was behind me, but not so good head-on. I was smart (I think) and at mile 2 started walking a minute at each subsequent mile marker. Plus the big hill, of course, since I didn't want to kill myself running uphill against the wind. I got in my 6 miles and in spite of the weather actually felt pretty good about it. Plus I played some of my birthday playlist and the variety was nice after several weeks of history podcasts.

6 at 50

Actually it's 6 miles the day after turning 50. I took the day off work in order to recover from the festivities of the weekend, and ran late morning. It was another nice day, quite breezy, but still runnable. It was warm, though, and I walked at miles 4 and 5 as well as up the big hill. That's probably due also to only one run last week, but now that the birthday weekend is over I'm back on track.

Almost 50

Actually it was over 50 degrees today, but I'm almost to that mark myself. This was another gorgeous day that was begging for me to go running, and I did my 6 miles in pretty good time at a 9:39 pace. Not bad for a guy who's almost to the half-century mark. Not as many people out as I thought there would be, but still a fair amount. One more run planned before my birthday, but with family coming to town that's going to be optional. We'll see.

Bad Run, Good Walk

I had good plans for today. Run 9 miles, smoke a couple of pork shoulders, and chill. The last two came to pass, but the first one not so much. When I exited the house between 9:30 and 10 this morning the temperature was already was already in the mid 70s, sunny, and windy. My heart rate felt elevated early on and I walked a minute at Mile 1 and same at Mile 2. After Mile 4 the walking increased, and by the time all was said and done I probably walked close to a mile out of the 6 total. At least I sweated quite a bit and got the work in, even though I wouldn't consider it a quality workout.

Today's final tally was a high of 87 degrees. On 11 February! I'll take it, even though the run didn't turn out quite so well.

More Sun

It was another nice day, although not as warm as Tuesday - only in the upper 50s. Still, the sun was shining and it was a good early February day. I ran my 6 miles and even conquered the big hill. My right knee felt a little gimpy as I ran back through the neighborhood, but a 30-second walk seemed to solve the problem. Not a lot of people out today, probably due to the breeze, but those of us who were out seemed to enjoy it.

Spring in February

Today was really nice. Upper 70s in the afternoon, sunny, and just a hint of a breeze. It seems weird this early in February, but then again, this is Texas. I ran 6 miles and it went well. I started out feeling a little fatigued, but that faded away as the run progressed. I walked only a little up the big hill.

I had a physical yesterday and everything seems okay, although their scale came in five pounds heavier than our home scale. Oh well. At least my weight is down about ten pounds from its height, and I plan on continuing good habits. Going to the beach in June is somewhat of a motivation, albeit one that probably isn't as primary as it might be if I really cared what people thought about me. I won't be posing for anyone.

A Good Saturday

The weather today is cool and overcast once again, and I wore basically the same outfit as the last run. This weekend run I stretched to 8 miles, and for the most part it went well. A little after the 6-mile mark I walked for about thirty seconds since my left knee felt a bit out of whack. That helped since the rest of the outing went well, other than walking up the big hill against the wind again.

One of my sisters texted me this afternoon about possibly running a marathon with her toward the end of the year. Wait - did I just agree? Guess I just set a goal.

Groundhog Day Run

Seems like I've run this route before. Yesterday it was 80 degrees, today topped out at 46 with a lovely breeze. I donned the long pants and shirt along with mittens and a stocking cap and ran my 6 miles. I've run in worse. Only saw one other runner on the usual route and one couple walking around the pond. I did run up the big hill, though, and took off the cap on my way up to avoid a repeat of the wretching episode a few weeks ago. My pace ended up under 10 minutes and overall I felt good, increasing speed as the run unfolded.