Hot Town-Summer in the City

Hottest summer recorded in Austin in 83 years

That's the headline on one of our local news websites. As of today, we've had 44 days of 100+ degree temps, with no end in sight. Highs are projected to be 103-104 degrees for the next several days. It's not longer fun being outside when the sun comes up. This is the time when you look at the men and women who work outside for a living and feel so sorry for them as I head into my air conditioned office. Likewise, this is also the time that I'm really feeling sorry for teammates who are training for Fall IMs in this heat. I wouldn't want to be clocking 90+ miles on my bike right now.

This weekend also marks my 10th Anniversary on becoming an official Austinite. It's hard to believe I've been here for ten freaking years! So much has changed for me personally and professionally in the last decade, and yet, I still feel like the same girl that moved here at age 24 without knowing a soul. In many ways, I feel like a vacationing tourist in this town. I love it that much!  I love the atmosphere, the vibe, the people, the athletic scene, the culture and yes, the weather! I'll take heat over snow drifts any day!  If I had a glass of vino in my hand right now, I'd raise a toast to Austin and hope for 10 more years of fun and happiness!!

Speaking of fun and happiness (beautiful segueway), I did my weekly long run of 20 miles on Friday morning with Amy. Of course, she still received some slight harassment for finishing behind me. I quite like the weekend schedule I put together this weekend. Hmmmm...

Friday AM: 20 mile run at 8:49 avg pace.  The best part was the negative split. My last three miles were sub 8:00s. Awesome. I also passed a group of high school cross country girls. This stubby little old chick passed a group of lanky 15 year old runners. Nice...When I was 15, I could barely run a mile at field hockey practice. Step aside girls. You just got schooled by someone old enough to be your Mom (holy crap-I REALLY AM OLD ENOUGH!)

Saturday AM: For the first time, I went to the Saturday morning T3 Swim workout and loved it! First of all, it was great to arrive and it actually be daylight. Getting to the pool at 5:45am in the dark is very VERY hard. Lanes weren't crowded and I actually felt like a swimmer this morning. My 50m repeats were right around :53-:55 sec. Respectable for me. I also knocked off 12x 25m :19-:20 with fins.  It made me want to swim more...Oh, if there was only more time in the day :-)

Saturday PM: I'm doing my long ride tomorrow morning with Katy, Jerry and Jane, but I headed out at 12:30pm for a two-hour spin today to flush out yesterday's long run. I just did 3x S Mopac loops and 2x Veloway loops. Averaged a very tame 17.5 mph. Again, today was just all about an easy ride and not pushing pace or heart rate. It was 101 degrees afterall.  Fortunately, I'm meeting the crew tomorrow for a 7:15am start on the newly revised Longhorn 70.3 course. Looking forward to it.

Next week is going to be hectic as all get-out because I head to Houston Thursday morning for a weekend client  conference. There won't be much time for long workouts, but I hope to get some good runs/ swims in before. Plus, my client is putting me up at the Four Seasons and I'm guessing there's a pool. If not, I KNOW there's a spa and that will be just as good :-)

On Monday night, I'm also planning to attend the Austin Task Force that is addressing all of the traffic concerns caused by the athletic community. We're so evil. I'll be in attendance with several hundred of the fittest people in this town ready for a "diplomatic" conversation. I can't wait to post some pics of that.

"Fit Person" meets "Slothen City Task Force Team Member" 

Here's to the rest of the weekend glued to the TV watching the Olympics! Unfortunately, Shawn is working days this weekend so I'm hanging by myself. We're also trying out a new kitty as a companion to Brutus. I'm afraid Brutus will eat the little "mini me." More to report later!