I drew a picture! It's of the route I run in my neighborhood. The red X is my house, though it's more to the left of where the page ends. The loop is about 1.1 miles. Today I ran it 3 times and walked it once. I thought I'd share where I go when I run. I'm a creature of habit, so I usually run the same way every time - see the red arrows. I know you're supposed to vary your routine so your body doesn't get used to the same thing, and I do. I don't run every day. 2 or 3 times a week, I go to the gym and do the treadmill or the elliptical machine. My favorite machine right now is the TreadClimber - what a great, low-impact workout that is! If you have one at your gym, I highly recommend it. I also get some variety by attending group runs with my training group, We Run San Antonio, on Saturday mornings. We run out in the hills of Helotes. I hate the hills, but they're good for me. And it's really pretty out there. And usually cooler than at my house in the middle of the city. Cooler is always good! Our first official training run is this Saturday, July 4th, which, coincidentally, is also my 30th birthday! Crazy, huh? I'm not sure how this 30 thing happened...

I also enjoy making lists, so here are some things I saw on my run this morning:

1. Lots of squished frogs. I always see them on my runs out here. Luckily, they're not very fresh. I think they live in the Big Drainage Ditch, but I'm not sure why they come out at night to be run over by cars...
2. 6 other people walking/running the same course! They were all very friendly and we wheezed good morning to one another. Unfortunately, 4 of them were running/walking on the right side of the road instead of the left. I wanted to discuss the safety implications of this decision with them, but I felt it wasn't the right time.
3. Two giant, empty cans of Fosters in paper bags. Australian for trashy.
4. Huge, 6-foot-tall weeds all around the outside edge of the Big Drainage Ditch. I wondered how the heck they got that big when we haven't had significant, normal rainfall in 2 years, and no rainfall whatsoever in at least 2 months! And, how come grass and flowers and plants we want don't grow more like weeds? What's up with that? I have native plants in my garden and I still have to water those suckers every day! Is someone secretly watering the weeds at night? Will the city ever cut them down? Sometimes they scratch my hands if I get too close.
5. Two CPS employees sitting in their truck beneath a tree. Taking a break, maybe?? From what? It was 7 am!! They were there for about 20 mintues.
6. Some houses with really nice cars, yet really crappy yards.... interesting.
7. An old man tinkering with his outdoor A/C unit. Poor thing, I hope he got it working or called someone. No one wants no A/C in this heat! We went through that a couple of months ago when it was only in the low 90's and it was miserable then!
   

I find that keeping my mind on things other than the slight burning sensation in my quadricepts helps me run farther. So, there you are. Next time, a discussion of music. :)