Hmmm…where should I begin about this weekend? Perhaps with the story of the best long run ever?

A couple of weeks ago, after posting to the Dead Runner’s Society mailing list about running in Austin, I got an email from this runner who lives there, Cilla. I had given her some advice about London when she and her husband went over Christmas, so we had already emailed a few times. She offered to show me where to do my long run, and said she would run some of it with me. I’d never have asked anyone to run the entire 18 miles with me, especially such an experienced runner such as Cilla, because I know to go that slow could be torturous, if you’re used to faster paces (thank you Chris! you’re the best!)

So I called Cilla on Friday afternoon, when we got into Austin, and we arranged to meet at our hotel. She was going to show me a 7 mile loop that I could do twice, and then I could add on another 4 miles. I had hoped that she would do the first seven miles with me, and later she said that’s what she had planned to do. But she ran the whole thing with me! All 18 miles! All 4+ hours! It was such a great run, and Cilla is really amazing. We talked the whole time, and she gave me some really good advice. (Which reminds me: I need to get some Succeed electrolyte capsules before the marathon.) We talked about everything, about running, and books, and family, and travelling, etc, etc.

It was a pretty challenging run for me. The trail is (by New Orleans standards) pretty hilly, and I think we ran at a slightly faster pace than I’m used to. But I kept up, and aside from the first few miles, we didn’t take timed walking breaks. Generally, we walked on the uphills, and that was about it. The trail is beautiful, it goes over little bridges, under big bridges, next to the lakes, and some creeks and most of it is made of dirt, so it’s easy on the legs. RunTex had coolers of Powerade set up, so I was able to keep a bottle of that for extra liquid.

All in all, it was a wonderful run. And Cilla said I was a good runner.  I can’t say enough good things about her. 

One long run left!

Oh yeah, and I didn’t do my 5 miler this morning. Tummy was upset from weekend. Drove to park and everything. Couldn’t run. Oh well. I’ll make it up. Maybe run extra tomorrow!
.: posted by pam m 

Now I’ll talk about the rest of the weekend. It was really fun, I don’t think I’ve ever giggled so much as I did on the drives there and back. We brought Mad Libs with us and filled in the blanks with dirty words. Ha ha! Okay, juvenile, but it certainly made the time go by faster. Which was a good thing, because on the way there, we were detoured two hours out of the way. The entire westbound I-10 was diverted onto a two lane highway with nothing but scary woods on either side of it. No grocery stores, no gas stations, nothing. And with no warning whatsoever. Thank goodness we had a full tank of gas, otherwise we would have been in big trouble. Yeesh.

It was cool to see my brother’s films on big screens. Both the music video and the short film went over well. The music video was the second one shown in a 90 minutes showcase of some really terrible videos for terrible songs. Sheesh. The short film on Saturday got laughs in the right places, and we started a round of applause at the end. Tee hee!

Drank some pints of beer at a very authentic pub on Saturday afternoon (but after I ate and rehydrated) which probably wasn’t the best idea, but it was fun and no harm done. All in all, it was fun, and I hope that I can get back to Austin one day to run again. It just made me realize that I have to get out of New Orleans!