This is My Hometown [Lufkin tour entered 1-15-06]

Saturday, I was again back home in Lufkin, and got up early for a solo long run there. I managed to avoid banging my toes or shins on any of the now unfamiliar furniture in my old house there, and creeped out without waking my family asleep and warm in their beds. I waited for it to get just light enough to be seen, and headed out about 10 minutes to 7:00 am, GPS synched, iPod ready, and hat and gloves on for this tour of Lufkin. It was glorious running weather, mid-30's to start and eventually warming to maybe low 40's by the time I finished, bright and clear. I would sign up right now for weather like that at Freescale! I did wear long pants today, just in case I miscalculated and had to walk, and wore two shirts, topped by the bright red long-sleeved Gazelles shirt. I wanted to be seen running in the city, mainly because I wasn't exactly sure how familiar my home folks were with runners.

Gilbert had the Gazelles scheduled for 12-14 miles today, doing the 3M half marathon course, so I figured I'd go out and aim for something in that range. I carried a water bottle and a couple of GU's, and was ready to go. I had not had my usual Friday night pasta dinner, but since this was "only" a 14 miler, I should be okay.

After some initial turning through my old 'Hood, I crossed over into the inner part of the loop, and again ran my old route to elementary school, passing by Trout Elementary at about the 2 mile mark of the day. I was running by feel, keeping it nice and relaxed, because I'm considering this run to be an extension of the recovery week following the 20 miler last weekend. I was feeling good, and just sort of made random turns down streets in the general direction that I was headed. These are fun runs, with no set course, and I just take them as they come. I came upon my Dad's dental office right at mile 4, and walked a few steps there as I wrestled open a GU and drank some Gatorade. It was only about a 30 second stop, and off I went, into Downtown Lufkin. So far, it was a delightful run.

Splits miles 1-4: 9:48, 9:09, 9:02, 9:05.

From Dad's office, I passed into downtown, went by the old central library, and surprisingly, had to wait about 20 seconds at a stoplight at First and Ellis, because there were some cars coming through. No one was more surprised than I was at this turn of events! Downtown is sort of a ghost town after 5:00 and during weekends. Oh, well. On past the First Baptist Church and around the Civic Center again like last time, and I did a loop around the Courthouse as well. I decided to go by the old High School, which is now the middle school for Lufkin, so I turned into the bright sun onto Denman Avenue and ran carefully down the sidewalk there all the way across the large expanse of Timberland Drive (where I spent many a night cruising up and down the street with my girlfriend back in the day), past Shipley's Donuts, and finally entered the grounds of the high school. Physically, it looks much the same, with a few new buildings added for additional classroom space. I had some nice moments running around the campus, and I even hopped the fence at the track for a ceremonial lap around the old cinder/crushed rock surface where I ran so many years ago. I ran behind the old gym and choir room, passed the shop garages where the hoodlums met to smoke during school, curled around the band hall and the new basketball gym, and cut across the parking lot where my driver's ed course started 31 years ago. That was pretty cool! At that point, I figured my mileage was such that I should continue in that direction and ran down the four lane Chestnut Avenue, south towards the Loop again. I was a little nervous on that street, as it was sort of like running down Burnet here in Austin, with cars zipping by fairly closely. I ran mostly on the grass beside the road, being careful not to step into a hole that could ruin my day. Finally, I crossed over the loop, and at 8 miles or so, I stopped briefly by the Lowe's for my second GU and some more Gatorade. I estimated that I had about 4 or 5 miles to get home from there if I went by Mary Anne's old house site, so I was feeling pretty good about my day. My pace was staying very consistent, and I felt like I could run this pace all day.

Splits, miles 5-8.29: 8:56, 9:10, 9:02, 8:55, and .29 miles at 8:48. Overall, a nice 9:08 pace, and with all stop time included, 9:22/mile. Time to take it to the house!

Since I really didn't know for sure how far I had remaining, I didn't do the usual "fast finish" to this run. I can save that for next weekend's 22 miler. I turned on Harmony Hill Road, then behind the new Best Buy, down to the new Academy Sports, and crossed precariously over Hwy. 59, past the Super Wal-Mart, and in front of where Mary Anne's house stood for 45 years. It's nothing but cleared ground and surveyor's stakes now, which is sort of sad. Onward I went, though, keeping a close eye on oncoming traffic on the relatively narrow expanse of Daniel McCall Drive. Went past the junior college, which is apparently still not back in session, and turned onto a farm-to-market road, aiming now towards my house. I thought it was about a mile from Mary Anne's old house to the railroad tracks, and then I figured another 2 miles from there, so I'd hit between 13 and 14 miles. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be much further to the tracks! Oh, well. I passed a road crew picking up debris on the side of the road, and they looked at me as if I were an alien. Maybe I was? I heard and then saw a train roaring down the tracks ahead of me, and picked it up just a little as I approached it, thinking I'd have some time to wait once I got to the tracks. Nope. It timed just perfectly, and was past me by the time I got there. No breaks for me! For the final stretch home, I decided to stay on farm roads, and turned down (this is really the name of the road!) Gobbler's Knob. It was the source of many bad jokes when we were in High School, none of which I can relate to you now. Today, it made for very pleasant running, with room to run on the shoulders of the road. I thought I remembered an entrance off of that road into my neighborhood, but it was an unknown quantity to me, since I had never tried it before. I came upon it, and followed my instincts in the general direction of the house, finally seeing a familiar street name. Just as I was about to pass a particular intersection (and coming up on 15 miles!), I noticed familiar houses, and realized that I was very close to home indeed. That was a relief! From there, it was just a few tenths of a mile, and I was back at Casa Clement. Right at 15 miles for the day, a nice run.

Splits miles 9-14.94: 8:45, 8:51, 8:49, 8:46, 8:58, 8:54, and .65 miles at 8:32/mile pace. For the day, 14.94 miles at 9:07/mile average pace with all time included. Without the few minutes of stop time, pace improved to 8:59/mile. Either way, it was a nice run. Exactly what was required. The course was even similar to the 3M course, with moderate terrain change throughout.

I did some balance drills and some strides in the yard there, and then rejoined my family for the day's festivities. I didn't get to stretch much, but I sneaked some stretching in during the day when I could.

For the week, a modest 35.5 miles, and I think I did a good job of giving my body a bit of a working rest after last week's heavy mileage and long race. This coming week, it's another big mileage week, the last really tough week before Freescale. We start with the Wilke hill repeats tomorrow morning, which will be challenging. After that, the rest of the week seems easier.