Stretching Out The Long(er) Run...

This morning was a bit grey and humid, but the temperature was a nice 55 degrees at 6:30 am. I met up with Henry, Jan, Patrick, Diana, and Laurie at RunTex for a scheduled 10+ miler. We planned to do the Scenic loop, a rolling course that is a favorite among the local running crowd. Laurie tried to keep up, but once we got moving at about mile 2, she fell back and ran her own pace for the rest of the day. The rest of us picked things up from 10:58 to 10:07 to 9:53 to 9:48 as we got loose. At the boat docks, we stopped briefly for a quick drink of water (very fine 1:03 stop!), and moved into the Scenic course proper. Once the terrain became more difficult, we actually started speeding up, knocking out 4 or 5 miles at 9:15 pace, more or less. We had a good time, chatting when the course featured downhills and flats, and were a little quieter on the steeper bits. Another running group of some sort was running by us a few times, but they turned before we reached 35th Street, so Patrick didn't have to go and race them.

On Exposition, I noticed a gas station with unleaded at $1.88, almost 15 cents more than the gas stations near my house. I guess the residents in fashionable West Austin don't mind paying a little more?

Our last stop was a brief 2 minutes at O. Henry Middle School, where Gilbert had put out Powerade and water for us. Just for fun, we took a GU there as well. At that point, with some 3 miles to go, Diana maintained that 9:15 sort of pace since she had to run more like 20 miles today since she's training for Boston. (I saw her later, and even though she got off course a little, she knocked out plenty of miles. Go, girl!) Henry stayed with her for the rest of the 11 miles, and the rest of us pushed the pace a bit for a traditional Gazelles "Fast Finish" long run. Patrick and Jan got a quick start, and it took me over a mile to catch Jan on the trail. Patrick was long gone by then. In a sign that we have run too many miles together, Jan knew that I was coming up behind her on the trail based solely on the sound of my footfalls. Those folks on CSI don't have anything on a runner's deductive powers, huh? I pushed on ahead, as I was rolling pretty well by then. My last 3 miles were around 8:05/mile pace, and I finished pretty strong. It was an excellent run.

11.44 miles, average pace 9:16/mile, total running time 1:45:58. Jan finished pretty soon after me, and we went and did 4 striders on the grass.

Following that, we gathered for the usual Saturday stretching, and it was good to see Alex there. He had another successful rehab run/walk outing, so he was happier than I've seen him in a while. There was a huge crowd there for stretching this morning. Lots of non-Gazelles people, I think. After the stretching, Jan, Patrick, Alex and I did our situps (4 x 25), back raises (2 x 20) and pushups (2 x 10). It was a full day at the running office.

Tomorrow is pretty much a full off day, except that I'll do some core exercise stuff here at the house in the morning. I have to go to San Antonio tomorrow for a guitar concert, so if I don't do the exercise early, there's a large chance I won't do it at all. One must know one's own limitations, right?