Bayou Run and Plans

I was up late Friday night and none too thrilled with my alarm clock this morning. I was even less thrilled to find that the cat managed to dump over his litterbox in the night—a first, and hopefully also a last.

So it was almost 7:30 before I was able to hit the trails, and so humid it felt like I was running through soup. I kept things simple, though. I ran the Bayou loop, including part of the downtown trail, and when I was done, I changed direction and ran it again. That made about 12 miles. I finished with a little-loop (Shepherd/Waugh) at about 10K pace, which wasn’t fun at all. Some clouds were moving in and a breeze was picking up, so that helped, but only marginally. It was still hot and humid, and I was tired.

But it was a surprisingly strong run, overall. My calves had been so tight the night before that I hadn’t expected much, but I think the hills on the bayou trail and the way I broke up the pace helped my legs. I was forced to use different muscles, rather than just punish the same ones for mile after mile.

I was thinking today that I might try to bring my long run mileage up to about 18-20 by the end of October and run the San Antonio Marathon on November 12. Yes, I’m registered for Houston in January, so I wouldn’t be running San Antonio as an A race. I would take it slow and walk frequently. I’ll wait and see how I’m feeling in October, since I don’t want to jeopardize my January (birthday!) marathon. I also would have to consider how doing a marathon in November would dovetail with my plan to do the Luke’s Locker Half Marathon on October 29.

But I’ve always wanted to do San Antonio. I lived there for three years as a kid and have fond feelings for the city. And with their new course route, it looks like fun. But I’m leaving my options open at this point, and I’ll make a decision when I get a better idea how my body is holding up. Last year’s hip injury freaked me out and I still haven’t gotten back up to my same long run mileage. I hope all these successful 12-14 mile runs followed by Sunday morning 6-milers are an indication I’m back on track and ready for better things.

In other news, I think I’m going to buy a new camera tomorrow. I don’t have the time or the right tools to muck around endlessly with our broken camera, and we’re about due for a new one, anyway.

This blog needs more bunny pictures!

Today’s Workout
14 mile run