Week 3: Saturday Morning 20 Miler

I was slightly nervous about today's 20 mile run because I actually had not eaten dinner on Friday night. No, I'm not a sicko. No, I'm not a calorie freak or anything like that. We had simply attended a going-away party for a colleague of his and there really was no opportune time to sit down and eat. It was very casual and we spent most of the night walking around mingling with others. We were at a restaurant on Lake Austin and the appetizers that were ordered consisted of fried fish, fried shrimp, french fries and hush puppies (ok--I had one of those). The food wasn't really that condusive to a long-run the next day. So, right before I went to bed, I ate a Balance Bar for some nutrition.

I woke up at 4:45 am this morning for a 5:30am start and had another Balance Bar on the way to Barton Springs. We were starting and ending at Barton Springs today. It was great for a change of scenery and spectacular for a cool soak after my first 20 miler of the Fall season. The run started off slow as they all do. I settled into a steady pace with Amy, Marcie and Shelley who was back from an extended break. It's always great to incorporate new people into our little clique as she gave a fresh perspective on lots of our topics that we hash every weekend. Plus, she's a certified USAT Triathlon coach, so I picked her brain about a lot of things as well.

The one thing we noticed immediately (and tried to block out immediately) was that it was incredibly hot and humid, more so than usual. We were drenched after just a couple of miles. Luckily there was plenty of fluid along the way thanks to Gilbert's crew. In an unusual turn of events, G was actually doing the run with us, although he was there and gone before we knew it. We ran from Barton Springs across the Mopac Bridge, Lake Austin, Exposition to 35th, 35th to Shoal Creek, White Rock, Great Northern, Foster, back to Shoal Creek and up to Steck for the turnaround point. I had a picture-perfect run today and felt incredibly strong the entire time. At 45minutes, I took my famous Tangerine Power Gel. At 1:45, I took an orange Enervitene. Both provided me with plenty of sustained energy. I felt energized until the last 1/2 mile when I finally started to run out of gas. Thon and I both observed the same thing today. We both felt great cardi-wise. In fact, even during the later faster miles we could still converse with very little effort. Unfortunately, we just felt a little sore and tight. My ankles were bothering me for some reason during the run. We ended back at Barton Springs for extended stretch, soaking and the usual Saturday morning ritual of breakfast at Mi Madres. Today's crew expanded by a couple as Erine joined us! It's been a long time and it was great to catch up with him. A friend of Hava's also joined us, bringing our crew to 9 this morning. I say this all the time, but it was a great way to start another day in Austin, Texas.

Shawn and I then actually proceeded directly to Four Hands furniture where we spent an hour or so looking at kitchen tables, barstools, etc. I apologize to the employees for the rancid waft as we walked through the door! At least we spent some money on chairs!

The Splits do NOT include water stop breaks

Mile 1 9:55
Mile 2 9:07
Mile 3 9:05
Mile 4 9:04
Mile 5 9:11
Mile 6 9:03
Mile 7 9:12
Mile 8 8:49
Mile 9 8:49
Mile 10 8:42
Mile 11 8:40
Mile 12 8:40
Mile 13 8:38
Mile 14 8:36
Mile 15 8:45
Mile 16 8:33
Mile 17 8:32
Mile 18 7:45
Mile 19 7:43
Mile 20 8:18 (slow jog the last 1/2 mile)

2:55:32
Avg 8:46 per mile
**awesome for the heat and for still being over 3 months away from the marathon.