Through the Fog and the Mist... [Entered 12/21/06]

Friday, I finally came back out to play, and joined Frank and Marcy for the longer weekend run. I was traveling over the weekend, and Frank and Marcy just wanted to get the run done so they could play on Friday night with their respective families. At any rate, it was a chance to run with different folks for a change, and we got underway right on time from RunTex at 5:45am.

The weather was really eerie. It was totally foggy out there, and we couldn't even see the buildings of downtown Austin for the most part. Runners would appear in the distance out of the mist, and then would disappear just as strangely as they passed us by. For the most part, we enjoyed ourselves, and chatting away, as we circled Town Lake on the Longhorn Dam loop. Quick water stops at the Holly Power Plant and at Mopac provided necessary water, and I even took a GU at Holly and at Mopac, just for fun.

The Friday Atomic Bomb runners blasted by us near the Austin High track, and all we heard was a sort of "swoosh!" as they went by us. They weren't laughing and grinning, either. That particular group and that particular run is serious running business! Still, it was nice to see them all out there.

From Mopac, we made our way up the rough and ready trail along Mopac north to Enfield, then all the way to Lake Austin, doing the AT&T hills backwards, finally turning for home at the boat docks. One last sip of water at Mopac, and we said goodbye to Marcy, who had run over to RunTex from Mopac earlier. Frank and I finished up with the last couple of miles, and then we even did striders. No real fast finish today, but we got the miles in, and that's what was important.

I got in some stretching, and called it a day. The splits weren't all that interesting, as we kept a pretty steady pace. We did have one mile (Marcy's last mile) that was 8:08 pace, but for the most part, we clicked along steadily. For the day, 14.3 miles, 9:16/mile pace, including water stop time. Actual running pace was probably more like 8:45-8:50. I'm glad I went.