Running Log: Decemebr 27 - January 3

Total Miles for the Week: 23.5

12/28 My leg hurts from yesterdays hill running fandango. Went to Ikea instead of working out. I could live in 400 square feet. Had Swedish breakfast and American coffee.

12/29 Ran 5.5 plus half a mile through a field of snake high grass, bounding through instead of running, afraid of gophers and rattle snakes. It started raining so the last two miles were Neil miles all the way, soaking wet, carrying a 1/2 pound of red clay on my shoes. Also it was dark on the side of a fast road. I kept saying to myself, Keep the cones to your left. If they aren't on your left then you're in the road.

12/31 Ran 4 junk miles, slow and stupid. My calf never numbed out. did loops in one of those full blown Stepford spec neighborhoods, three million blocks of perfectly manicured, brand new and completely uninhabited homes. I made it back alive even though my shoes had bricked up on that fucking red brown shit they call mud in Texas. I iced immediately when I got home, had a snack and took a nap. I'm set to run Town Lake on Saturday, two 5 mile loops. We'll see.

01/02 Re-write: Ran 7+ miles around the Town Lake loop, which is Austin’s Central Park, but thought I’d done 11. It turns out that I-35 isn't the turnaround. Its actaully Pleasant Valley. I also ran 4 miles of hiking trails behind Zilker Park which I didn't know was Zilker Park. I hit it from the side by starting the Town Lake loop going left instead of the traditional right. I missed all the entrances that said Zilker Park which was cool because a) I found a homeless camp or a pretty fucked up party spot which was way Chainsaw Massacre so I didn't hang out to drink the sterno and find out which was which and b) because before I found out it was a "park" I thought I discovered an old dry ravine bed which was all wild west and perilous and shit, even if it was in the middle of a city.

The loop was cool and, regardless of what you might have read online about the Town Lake loop, there are a lot of hills. It was crowded but I really felt connected to the city in a way I hadn't before, like if I had stayed in Austin, this would be what I'd do every Saturday.

(It was cold but not frigid so I managed to run in a long sleeve compression shirt and t-shirt but no hat. My leg was rough but working and it numbed out around mile three.)