Superstar!

Superstar! The last time I posted, I had just returned from a vacation in which I totally bagged every run for the first week of our training. And then proceeded to jump into Intermediate Marathon training. I was a little bit nervous at first about the sudden increase in running. Now, four weeks in, I am very proud of myself for sticking to the schedule so far, getting all of the runs in, and running a strong 9 miles last weekend and 10 miles on Sunday!

For last week's 9-miler, we ran through an extremely hilly neighborhood for the first several miles, before finishing up on the mellow trail that wraps around Town Lake. I have to go back and take pictures of these hills - they were so extreme! The views of downtown Austin from up there were amazing though. Jess and Faith - we'll have to drive that road when you are in town!



Town Lake Trail

This Sunday, we ran 10 miles, and again the route was more challenging than my usual flat-and-easy long runs. We ran up Shoal Creek Trail, which ranges from paved to rocky to literally hopping across the creek on boulders. Fun running trail! We ran three miles up, stretched and drank water, and ran three miles back down to the Town Lake trail to finish up the last four miles.


Shoal Creek Trail - the stream crossing section

As a newcomer to Austin, having a coach (Mike from the Texas Running Company) has been so helpful. He picks out the routes for our long runs, which is helping me learn about good places to run in Austin. Also, he picks more challenging routes for the long runs than I would normally choose for myself. And to top it all off, he drives around to various points in the run with water and gu and high fives to encourage us. Superstar!

Happy week four gang!