Thanks to a wonderful cooler, drier northern air mass that moved into Texas last Sunday, running was much more pleasant this week! There is a huge difference between running in 85-95 degrees and 85-95% humidity versus  75-80 degrees and 60% humidity, at least for me. Last weekend it was 100 degrees in the afternoon. This week for a few days it was 85-90 and dry. I love those rare days !

I managed to run 5 days in a row for a total of 34 miles. That may not sound like much for someone training for a 50k, but I ran an 8 miler and two 10 milers, so I feel pretty  good about it. The 15 miler I had planned for this weekend did not happen. The heat and humidity slowly returned yesterday and I was still tired from Thursday’s very strenuous 10 miler, so I decided to only run 10 today. Even though I have run a few races this year, I have not been running very consistently or many long runs, so I need to be careful not to ramp up mileage too fast.

Monday was a short trail run at lunch time. Tuesday I ran 8 in town and tried to run as many hills as possible, but they are small hills. Wednesday I did a little heart rate test with my new heart rate monitor to calibrate my zones for my watch. Turns out I have a pretty low heart rate. My zone 5 is only >160.  Thursday‘s run was super fun, even though it was tough. I ran there last week, but it was much cooler this week and this time I ran TEN loops! I always love to see how much elevation gain I accumulate during a run, and there’s usually not much, but this time I had 1700 feet. That was the goal of this run, climbing a hill over and over. Afterwards,  I changed my clothes in my van and then went and met my husband for lunch at his job which is near the park.  These are some of the cars that he is working on.

I took a rest day Friday and did my usual shopping and errands. Then, big news! We went bowling! My husband and two youngest sons and daughter all piled into the van and headed to the city where we slipped on some stylish, Velcro bowling shoes and attempted to keep the ball out of the gutters, with some success. We had a lot of fun and I even got some strikes. Yay!

Today, Saturday,  I wasn’t feeling super great so I was not sure where I wanted to run, near or far, roads or trails, or for how long. I don’t know if I had a touch of a virus or what, but I just felt a little weak and my stomach was not right. So I decided to run trails at a state park not too far from home. The park is very small, but the trails are super green, shady and flat so my tired legs would not have to work so hard. I really didn’t know how many miles I would do. I hoped for at least six in order to get 30 for the week. It felt very humid when I started so I just told myself to take it slow and see how it went. A speedy little Coral snake was trying to get into the tall grass near the path as I went by on mile 3. Some of the trails are still under water due to the river being so high, but there is a nice trail that makes a loop, like a lollipop, at the end of a straight out and back. I decided to do that twice to get a little extra distance. Then I decided to just do the entire trail in reverse which would give me a total of eight miles. Two more snakes decided to cross my path in that same area, a small Copperhead and a small King Snake. The squirrels and rabbits were very frisky today and I almost thought one of the squirrels was going to jump on me!  I was feeling pretty good  so I told some hikers and a Boy Scout pack about the snakes as I passed by them.  As I was finishing up mile 7, since I was feeling good,  I decided to add in another short loop, without the lollipop, to make it to 10. It’s always nice to feel good enough to do MORE miles. But I have noticed that I usually get a second wind after mile 7, and then die again around 9 or 10. After finally finishing mile 10, I was pretty tired. I took a nice cool shower in the park bathroom , then headed home where I have been very busy all day.

I wish all the dads in the USA  a very Happy Father’s Day tomorrow!