Come Back to Texas
Come back to Texas
Its just not the same since you went away
I bet you missed your exit
and drove right on thru the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
and I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway
Made it into Houston last night. We get our rental car and the first thing M does is pops a Bowling For Soup cd into the deck and puts it on track number 5: Ohio (Come Back to Texas) and cranked the volume to 11. Perfect song for our arrival here.
Christmas, despite my misgivings about the running around we were to do, went very nicely. We opened most of our presents with my mom and sister on Christmas Eve, opened a few from Santa on Christmas morning, and flew down here to the Houston exurbs that evening. The only cousins our kids got that are their age live here, and the energy level in the house immediately torqued up as we got to the house. As for me, we weren't in the house long when A and I got in the car and drove a few miles out to the nearest convenience store (how far away does a convenience store have to be before it is no longer convenient) and picked up some Shiner Bock. Ah, Texas.
This morning C took the kids for donuts and presents. She figured that since we got here late anyway, she might as well take advantage of the after Christmas sales and just let the kids have their run of Toys R Us and pick out whatever they want. They were very excited, and I was too, as I could then lace up my new NB 856's that Santa got me (the elves made them just right - size 10.5EE) and take off to run in the meantime.
Katy is a tough town to run in (or to drive around drunk). While there are many country roads, instead of shoulders most of them are flanked by fairly deep ditches, which means there is not much room to spare for oncoming traffic. So when I'm here I run about 1.75 miles down to the town park, which has a three quarter mile loop around a pond. The plan was to warmup out to the park, run 12 laps around the pond, and cool down back for 12 miles. The 12 laps would be run progression style, each faster than the last.
Weather was cool and sunny starting out, and I noticed the park had become more fortified since I last ran there last Easter, with a heavy fence separating the parking lot from the loop path. A big sign read "Don't encourage criminals by keeping your valuables in your car." I chewed on this for the first few laps around. I don't want to sound like an arrogant blue state guy, because the sentiment on that sign is everywhere, perhaps it got me by how openly the sentiment was expressed. One of the consequences of locking so many people up is that criminals then are lurking everywhere. I know this sign is a little thing but its a good illustration of how we all are affected by our incarceration nation (and I'm in the heart of IN here).
But enough liberal whining. The laps progressed in fits and starts, but except for one hiccup they progressed downwards (5:57, 33, 28, 32, 30, 17, 12, 00, 4:51, 50, 39, 26) from just under 8 minute pace to right around marathon pace. I felt so good that I did two more laps for cool down and then jogged back. 14 miles, 1:46:51 total. There is really nothing I can complain about regarding this workout. I feel like I'm picking up where I left off. I also felt no time pressure to get my race done today, which is what I call vacation.
Right now I'm just running by feel. I put a 5-mile race at Dallas' White Rock Lake on the calendar for New Year's Day, so I'll try to get mileage in early in the week and taper a bit for the race.
Its good to be back in Texas, where, in the words of the Southwest Airlines flight attendent, "We love you AND we love your money." Or, in the words of Bowling for Soup:
Its just not the same since you went away
I bet you missed your exit
and drove right on thru the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
and I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway
Made it into Houston last night. We get our rental car and the first thing M does is pops a Bowling For Soup cd into the deck and puts it on track number 5: Ohio (Come Back to Texas) and cranked the volume to 11. Perfect song for our arrival here.
Christmas, despite my misgivings about the running around we were to do, went very nicely. We opened most of our presents with my mom and sister on Christmas Eve, opened a few from Santa on Christmas morning, and flew down here to the Houston exurbs that evening. The only cousins our kids got that are their age live here, and the energy level in the house immediately torqued up as we got to the house. As for me, we weren't in the house long when A and I got in the car and drove a few miles out to the nearest convenience store (how far away does a convenience store have to be before it is no longer convenient) and picked up some Shiner Bock. Ah, Texas.
This morning C took the kids for donuts and presents. She figured that since we got here late anyway, she might as well take advantage of the after Christmas sales and just let the kids have their run of Toys R Us and pick out whatever they want. They were very excited, and I was too, as I could then lace up my new NB 856's that Santa got me (the elves made them just right - size 10.5EE) and take off to run in the meantime.
Katy is a tough town to run in (or to drive around drunk). While there are many country roads, instead of shoulders most of them are flanked by fairly deep ditches, which means there is not much room to spare for oncoming traffic. So when I'm here I run about 1.75 miles down to the town park, which has a three quarter mile loop around a pond. The plan was to warmup out to the park, run 12 laps around the pond, and cool down back for 12 miles. The 12 laps would be run progression style, each faster than the last.
Weather was cool and sunny starting out, and I noticed the park had become more fortified since I last ran there last Easter, with a heavy fence separating the parking lot from the loop path. A big sign read "Don't encourage criminals by keeping your valuables in your car." I chewed on this for the first few laps around. I don't want to sound like an arrogant blue state guy, because the sentiment on that sign is everywhere, perhaps it got me by how openly the sentiment was expressed. One of the consequences of locking so many people up is that criminals then are lurking everywhere. I know this sign is a little thing but its a good illustration of how we all are affected by our incarceration nation (and I'm in the heart of IN here).
But enough liberal whining. The laps progressed in fits and starts, but except for one hiccup they progressed downwards (5:57, 33, 28, 32, 30, 17, 12, 00, 4:51, 50, 39, 26) from just under 8 minute pace to right around marathon pace. I felt so good that I did two more laps for cool down and then jogged back. 14 miles, 1:46:51 total. There is really nothing I can complain about regarding this workout. I feel like I'm picking up where I left off. I also felt no time pressure to get my race done today, which is what I call vacation.
Right now I'm just running by feel. I put a 5-mile race at Dallas' White Rock Lake on the calendar for New Year's Day, so I'll try to get mileage in early in the week and taper a bit for the race.
Its good to be back in Texas, where, in the words of the Southwest Airlines flight attendent, "We love you AND we love your money." Or, in the words of Bowling for Soup:
Troy Aikman wants you back
Willie Nelson wants you back
NASA wants you back
and the Bush twins want you back
and Pantera wants you back
and Blue Bell wants you back
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway!
posted by seebo | 12:02 PM
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