The Lake Again. Ten Again.

Yesterday was a weird day.  First thing up was an interview for a promotion.  It took more out of me than I expected, and it was followed by a work commitment that involved sitting around for about an hour until my meeting occurred.  By the time I returned to the office, it was 10:30, there were no phone messages for me, and I was very, very tired.  So I decided to take four hours leave time, and got a few things in order before leaving for the day at noon.

I was meeting Marcy for dinner (Austin Land and Cattle!  Cowboy ribeye!)  and I knew I wouldn’t feel like walking off a big steak; the obvious solution was to walk at noon, but my house needed cleaning, the laundry needed done, it was hot, I was tired – too tired to pack up my gym bag and get back in the car.

But the real reason I was putting off the walk was because I just couldn’t face another “It was hot, and I walked around the neighborhood for an hour, and then on to St. Ed’s for the remaining half hour and came back drenched” blog.  When I feel like that, I know I’ve got a ten-miler coming on, and that’s exactly what I chose to do. 

I woke up early on Saturday, and Banks and I left the house at 5:10.  What a difference a day makes.  It was sticky and hot; it felt a good 10 degrees hotter than the last two mornings I walked, and he petered out quickly.  So I took him home, and continued on my way. All the way down Congress, crossed over to South 1^st, went under the bridge and hit the trail. 

I had brought my phone.  I turned up the music, and just focused on going for three hours.  It felt good to turn off my brain and just let my feet do their work.  I had not been to the trail in I think a couple of months.  The first thing I noticed was the disconcerting amount of algae in the lake.  Is that normal?  Remember, I’m not an outdoors person.  Is that just what happens in the summertime, or is a sign of bad lake health?  Does it go away when the weather gets cold again, or does the city have to send someone down to clean it out?

The second thing I noticed, as I got to the underpass bridge at the two-mile mark, was that I had not seen ONE DOG yet.  Not one.  As I went along the north shore, I saw a few more, but the total was definitely well under ten.  On a normal fall or winter day, that number would be over 100. PoorBanks.  Maybe I’ve been too hard on him, making remarks about his “wimping out” on me. 

Three hours can go very fast.  Just before I left the house, I took two Aleves; when I got home, I took two more.  My legs feel great right now.  I had to go  to San Antonio for all-day work today, and I was worried that, with all the driving, my legs would lock up, but I think two Aleves sandwiching the walk is just about right.

More importantly, as always when I’ve walked ten, I feel back in the game.  It’s like a therapy session, or would be if I was the kind of person who enjoyed therapy sessions.  I walked out the kinks and felt new again.  And tomorrow I’ll tell you about the FABULOUS Fresh Air podcast I listened to for a part of the walk, which jolted my mind and my spirit.