I arrived on time, parked, and stretched inside. I still felt full from yesterday night’s dinner. We started out and headed up north on Comal. The night before I had planned the route, and I was considering doing the advanced group distance of 16 miles. This is something my coach and I had discussed on Tuesday. However at the beginning I was doubting I would do it. Although I didn’t start with Richard, who I’ve run with the past few weeks, I trailed behind him about 10 feet. For some reason my runner id tag on my shoe was making noise and bothering me. On the first water stop I fixed my id and let Richard go on ahead, but over time I caught up. I still wasn’t breathing comfortably. I couldn’t talk very much as we ran. I was probably pushing it a bit too much. In a group I’m either trying to stay up with someone or trying to catch up to someone. In a group setting I really just don’t run on my own. Sigh. I know this is a problem. I have to accept that I’m a solitary person as I am in life. So at the second water stop I told Richard I was heading further north toward the 16 mile turnaround. Richard continued straight on North Loop while I headed north on Grover. I knew from yesterday night’s planning session that I could turn at Payne and do a 14 mile long run. So that’s what I did. I was all by myself. I was listening to my iPod, and finally I was running comfortably – as our coach says I was running “easy”. Somewhere along there I had a Mocha Clif Shot w/ caffiene. I felt that kick in, and I was fine. The remainder of the long run was downhill back into Austin, and went by quickly while “Car Talk” yacked in my ear. I arrived back in 2:11 for about 14 miles or about a 9:21 pace. Now looking back I could probably have done 16. Maybe next week. But should I worry that I didn’t do any miles at MGP. I’ll save that for my week day runs for now.
