Saturday Long Run

I moved my long run up from Sunday to Saturday this weekend so I can do the Austin Triathlete's open water swim on Sunday. I definitely didn't feel like running on Saturday though, but I managed to get up, make coffee and see Patty off to work before starting my run around 7:45. The schedule called for 2.5 hours, but I decided that I would be happy with 2 since I was doing it all alone and also that I was racing tomorrow.

I got out the door and started moving, not really feeling like it at all. But a strange thing happened after the last couple of painful runs; I felt really good. I can't explain it, but training is strange like that, and after the last couple of runs I'll take it.

It wasn't terribly hot, but the humidity was up there. At one point as I ran along the trail Fish (Andrea Fisher) and Louie came up alongside me and ran with me for a mile or so. They were in the final week of their taper leading up to Ironman Canada and doing a 75 minute run. It was nice to have someone to break the monotony, though I was just as glad to not have to continue with them as they headed into Tarrytown; I wasn't going to be able to keep pace with them for the whole remaining hour and a half.

I stayed on the trail to pick up an extra four mile loop between Mopac and S. First St I felt really good; at one point I checked my time by the mile markers and was holding at around 8:10 miles. I finished my loop and headed out into Tarrytown myself, going up Lake Austin Blvd. to Windsor and back home. Total time about 2 hours (1:45 of actual running) and around 12.5 miles.