Thursday run:

12 miles on the lake with Eric. Today was our medium long run. As it was 12 miles it was our longest medium long run to date.
Good run. Cool temps, wore a long sleeve tech shirt and gloves. Gloves came on and off through the run as temps dictated. Have been noticing lately how the temps go down towards the end of our runs at or around sunrise. As they say...."it's always coldest before the dawn"

We met up at 5:30am at Barton Springs. Not too many cars in the parking lot this morning. Got ourselves together, hit the bathrooms, tied shoes, grabbed a gu, and we were off.
As we ran under the Lamar bridge we were overtaken by a group of 7 runners. Turned out it was the ARC Allstars, Muna, David, Lino, Gordo, and others who run the 7 mile loop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Was great to see them. They were moving along a bit faster than we were, as we had just started out. Lino hung back for a few and chatted with us. We caught up to the rest at the water stop at 1st and got to chat a bit.

Our run today was the entire 10 mile loop, with an out and back on Lake Austin Blvd to get us to 12 miles. No matter how often I run on the lake I always enjoy it, there's always something new or different with each run. Temps, clouds, sun, the city lights reflecting off the lake, the sunrise, the company, other runners. Whatever it is I always appreciate it. The lake trail is the crown jewel of Austin running.

I felt great throughout the run.
Soak afterwards, although chilly, was excellent.

I hit 204 miles for the month of October, this being my last run of the month. That's a new record for me. I hadn't even realized this until a day or two ago. I rarely think about total mileage for a month. Generally am just focused on what I am running each week. I don't see a need to bog myself down with thoughts about how much or little I ran in a month. I take each week as it comes, and run the mileage that is appropriate for that week and my training. Nevertheless I do like the fact that I ran more than 200 miles this month.

Looking forward to our long run this Saturday. 16 miles. Should be a good run, on a good route.

Tomorrow is rest day. Yeah rest day!

Next week will be a cut back week. Ending with a Half Marathon in Monterey, CA. Running the Big Sur Half Marathon. My brother Patrick and his girlfriend live in Santa Cruz, CA. He'll be running his first half. Getting excited for this race, and being there with him on this journey. He had a great run this last weekend, 13 miles, his longest ever. Sounds like it went very well. He's trained hard for this race, and is ready. Should be a great day.

This race is a goal race for me. I'm hoping to put in a good effort. If all goes well I'll have a good sense of where I am at for Houston in January.

Run long...