TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

Mowed down grass and weeds in our lower 3 acres of pasture for about 2 hours to clear a path along the fence line.  Then worked on putting up about 450 feet of fence.  The posts were already in with barbed wire already installed from 6 years ago.  We put up a square wire fence to keep the neighbor's goats out of our lower 3 acres.  This was a lot of time on my feet considering we have a race on Sunday morning, but I drank lots of sports drink throughout the day.  I don't think it had any serious affect on the race results, 3rd place in my age group. 

Lynn and I drove to Austin and picked up Karen F.and Karen H. and we drove to Auditorium Shores for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer 5K race.  A warm November morning with temperatures in the low 80's.  Last year I won my age group with a 6:59 pace, beating the winner from the previous year by about 40 seconds. 

This year I ran a 7:07 pace and the guy I beat last year by 40 seconds turned the tables on me and beat me this year by 22 seconds.  What a fun race and what a great workout.  The race starts on Congress Avenue Bridge, over Town Lake, and heads up Congress Avenue toward the state capital.  The route takes a few turns up some hills so when I finished the first mile in 7:19 I felt pretty good about it having worked pretty hard that mile.  The second mile continues up more hills and goes back behind the state capital and finishes on the beginning of the downhill.  I finished mile 2 in 7:19 as well.  Mile three is mostly downhill but with some turns that flatten out and finishes while crossing the 1st Street bridge.  My mile 3 time was 6:45, and then I sprinted on in to the finish line with a total finish time of 22:03.  Last year my finish time was 21:47. 

So, I took 3rd place in my age group (out of 22 runners) this year, and Karen F. finished 43 seconds behind me and took 3rd place in her age group (out of 115 runners) and Karen H. took 4th place in the same age group.

After the race we went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos and Joe and Angel joined us as well.  A nice group get together. 

A warm evening in Austin, TX at McNeil HS track with temps in the mid to low 80's.  Got in my warm-up miles and then we did drills while the high school football team worked out on the field so we had lights for the first part of our workout.

Donnie had us do Yasso 800's tonight.  My right heel was tender after racing yesterday and my left hamstring has been real tight so I didn't overdo it and ran 6 Yasso's at 3:36 each.  Just a nice general workout.  The lights were turned off during our workout so it got immediately dark.  We had about 45 or 50 of us here tonight, a nice group.

A nice warm evening at Brushy Creek with temps in the mid to low 80's while I ran my warmup miles on the trails, then Bill had us do drills and then we jogged over to the dam where we did a 3-2-1 workout of the entire half mile length of the dam.  I ran with Tom H. and got his race report after he had run the New York City Marathon 2 days ago.  He liked it. 

The moon was half full which helped give us some additional light during our run tonight, a nice evening.  About 18 to 20 of us here tonight, a nice group.

What a nice morning in Austin, TX.  45 degrees at 6:00 as we met down at Town Lake and Mopac.  Just the 3 of us this morning, Karen F., Karen H. and me.  Lynn did her walk while we went for our 15 mile run up to Mt. Bonnell, then up to 2222, over to Shoal Creek, down to 24th, up behind the State Capital, down Congress to the Town Lake trail and then back up to Mopac to finish.  A really nice run.  Then of course over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos. 

Full moon.  Temps in the 70's.  Brushy Creek.  3 miles warmup.  Drills. Then we ran the boat ramp hill and over into the parking lot and circle back to the top of the hill.  We did this run 6 times.  The loop we ran was just short of a half mile.  Tom ran with me the first 3 loops and then he had to leave to go to work.  My times were 3:21; 3:21; 3:05; 3:00; 3:04; 3:04.  A nice workout.

I went to the foot doctor and told him about what I thought was a bruised right heel.  He X-Rayed the foot and declared a bone spur / plantar plantar fasciitis.  He had orthotics ordered that should be here in a little over a week.  He said I have one of the highest arched feet that he has seen and that the orthotic will really help. 

Nice 13 mile run with Karen H. and Tom H.  We did the 10 mile Mt. Bonnell loop and then the People Bridge loop on Town Lake.  Lynn did her walk and found some nice flint rocks.  Then we all went to Maudie's for breakfast tacos.  Karen F. and lots of other runners from our circle are in San Antonio to run the marathon or half marathon on Sunday.

A nice night at McNeil HS track.  I got there early and got in 6 miles warm-up before the running group showed up.  Temps were in the high 60's or low 70's, just right.  We had about 55 of us in the group tonight.  Lots of great marathon and half marathon stories from Sunday's San Antonio races.  After the drills and accellerations, Donnie had us do 4 each 300 meters ladder and then some 700 meter loops as well.  Tom and I did the 4 each 300 meter runs with times of 1:21; 1:16; 1:11; and 1:00 (a 5:20 mile pace).  Tom had to go to work and I had enough after getting the 6 warm-up miles as well, so we just did a cool down 1/4 mile and we were on our way. 

The right heel is still some painful (plantar fasciitis) as I wait for my orthotics in a week (next Tuesday).  A great night of running, though.

I untaped the right foot and was on my way to the foot doctor after work tonight to get retaped for the plantar fasciitis but they said they were closing early so I didn't get it taped back up.  I'll do it myself. 

Cold front blowing in this evening.  Lynn and I went over to Florence HS track and I did 3 miles, just to give me some time on my feet running. Anyway, it felt good just to get out for a little run tonight.  With the wind blowing and getting cold I felt sorry for Lynn and decided to cut my run short. 

A nice cool morning in Austin, TX, about 51 degrees at 6:00 start time.  We ran 15 miles including the Turkey Trot 5 mile course that will be run on Thanksgiving Day.

What a beautiful evening in Austin, TX, with temps feeling cool in the low 60's, clear sky wtih stars.  I was late leaving work so I only got in 1 mile warm-up.  Then we did drills and accellerations.  We had about 60 of us there tonight, another nice big group. 

Donnie had us do "Circuits" tonight. Run 100M and do pushups, run 100M and do lunges, run 100M and do crunches, run 100M and do jumps.  Repeat for a total of 4 times.  Then Tom and I did a cool-down mile and then we joined the group for the stretches.  Not a lot of distance but it all took about an hour, just a nice quick evening.

Joined Tom and Karen F. and Karen H at 6:00 AM.  Ran the 5 mile Congress Avenue loop and took a side run out past Zilker Park and up in the hills on the southwest end of Austin.  We ran up Wilke hill twice during this run and ran up past the Gus Farah entrance to the Greenbelt.  A nice run. 

I was wearing my new orthotics on this run and by the time we were finished the pain in my right heel was quite bad.  I'm going to add cushion on top of the orthotic.