by Life has been busy around here. Last Friday was a packed day; it started with an early morning drive to Nacogdoches to get my middle one back to college. I had time to kill between her meeting at noon and dorm room check-in at 4:30 p.m., so one of the things I treated myself to was a trail run along the Lanana Creek.
Running the Lanana Creek Trail
A friend had told me about this trail, so I picked up a map and pamphlet from the Information Center downtown. I ran the entire length of the trail and stopped at every historical marker to read every word. That meant my time out was long but my time back in was about half. And even though I wound up running in the late afternoon, it was shaded and felt much cooler than Austin. It was a beautiful run.
Steamy Soccer
After moving my daughter in, we drove to Houston for my son’s soccer tournament. I meant to run or walk before his games but honestly, it was just too blamed hot — 105 degrees that afternoon. I was so impressed with his coach; he told the boys that if the refs weren’t giving water breaks, they would walk away from the game (when the temp is above something like 95 degrees, the rules state they are supposed to get water breaks at no time penalty, but not every ref will do it, especially in a tournament situation with tight schedules). They got the breaks, but the ref didn’t stop the clock for them.
Celebrating 5 Years Cancer Free
Saturday evening, I drove through rainstorms back to Austin so I could get a good night’s sleep. Sunday morning, I picked up my partner in crime Cathy, and we drove with friends in tow out to Bastrop State Park for a big Crabby love fest, celebrating her 5-year anniversary being cancer-free.
What a GREAT time that was! Good friends on a trail. Cathy, Claire, and I ran the first loop together. When we popped out of the woods, more friends had joined the group; there was cold water, sodas, beer, and snacky stuff to tempt everybody to hang out and chat. It wound up that I was the only one who went back for a second loop (I needed to get my long run in, as I’d had no other option over the weekend).
Running with my buddies, I’d actually PRed my first loop without running hard. Of course, my second loop was slower but it was still one of my better times for a later loop (and I’d only taken a 5-minute break between), so I was very pleased with how the run went. I felt like a million bucks afterwards. We hit the burger joint for good food and more laughs. It was pretty much a perfect morning.
And it also answered some of my earlier questions about performance: my problem has to be primarily the heat. If I could go out to Bastrop and run two of my best loops ever and feel great afterwards IN THIS HEAT, then I must be doing ok, training-wise and health-wise. I still think it’s important to stay on top of my thyroid meds, so it will be interesting to see what the doc has to say today. But I felt reassured after Sunday’s run.
