Hooray for cold!

As I was driving to school yesterday, I noticed the wind and for once, was happy that I was not running with Houston Fit that morning. It was pretty chilly and that wind would make running a bit tough. It warmed up nicely, which made it really difficult to be stuck in a classroom all day. Oh, and that accounting test...I did as poorly as I thought. Getting an A in the class is going to mean some hard core studying for the next 4+ weeks!

Sunday, I made my way to Memorial Park to begin the scheduled 9-miler. I made it there a bit after 6:30am, stretched and was off. Rather than doing 3 loops, I finally decided to leave the park. I decided to run on the loop path to Memorial Dr, head to the "Rose Garden" and back, then complete the remainder of the loop. My math was off - I thought loop=3 miles, rose garden & back = 6 miles. But I finished my run in 1:28 and some change, so there is NO WAY that my route could have been 9 miles. I was going for an 11:15 pace...it could have been more like 8 miles, but definitely not 9! So, I need to map it on gmap to be more exact. Hmmm...it's times like these when I wish I had a Garmin. I pride myself on being a low-maintenance, low-budget, low-tech runner...however, I am beginning to re-think getting a Garmin more and more these days. Maybe I'll ask Santa for one this year...although, I have been eyeing a Chicago Marathon memento from Tiffany's. :-)

So, the run was great. The temps were in the high 40's - again, perfect running temps in my books. I made it all the way to Troon when I finally got rid of the long-sleeve shirt and ran the rest of the way in short sleeves. That was also when I realized that I still had the small Texas flag on the back of my shirt. I had put it there for the Chicago Marathon and had forgotten about it! I said good morning to any runners that I encountered along the way and made my way to the rose garden and back. As I was approaching the Shell station on Memorial, I was passed by a man who looked to be at least twice my age. Not just passed....he smoked me! Gotta love that!

The best part of my run happened when I got back to the Memorial loop...I finally met Vic! I was running my last mile, starting to feel a bit tired and I see a man running toward me. He's saying hi to some folks running past him. I knew just by this man's warmth and friendliness that it had to be Vic! It's funny how even though you've never met someone, you can feel like you actually know them. Vic has got to be one of the most inspirational runners I know and I read his blog religiously. Just as I expected, he was warm & friendly and was looking great out there. Vic - it was terrific to finally meet you!!!

So, I finished my final mile and stretched at the park. I felt great...I am loving these shorter LRs. I headed home as I had a busy day in store! The kiddo and I had play group, then I headed out to see Marie Antoinette with my friend Roberta followed by the Houston Fit Fall Marathon group post-race party and finally, the kiddo had a birthday party to attend! (yes, even at 2, she has "friends" and parties!)

I loved Marie Antoinette! Probably not historically accurate, but the scenery & costumes where phenomenal! There were scenes that moved slowly, but then I realized that as royalty in that time, you were really not allowed to do anything....life must have moved very slowly! The Houston Fit party was great. It was awesome to see the different medals and hear all about the various fall marathons. Chicago, NYC, Marine Corp, St. George and Steamtown were all represented. We met at Berryhill in the Heights, which had great Margarita's. Of course, I only had one, as I didn't think it would be very nice to show up at a 2-year old's birthday party tipsy! The kiddo played and played at the party, so she was pretty pooped by the time we arrived home. What a day! Fun, fun, fun!