5 miles, blogger friends, loose legs

This morning I had the pleasure of running with my Ft. Worth blogger friend Kevin, who is in town covering the TX legislature for the Ft. Worth Star Telegram. Kevin runs on Town Lake when he is here, and had some recent frustrations with trail directions (after all, it is very dark at 6am when you aren't in your home city). I offered to meet up with him this morning and show him the way and help him orient himself with the different bridges and mile markers.

We started at the rock (yes, I explained the multiple names that people call that meet-up place) and ran counter clockwise. I talked about how the trail goes to Barton Springs/Barton Creek Greenbelt if you don't cross the footbridge over Barton Creek. I pointed out where the 3 mile/Pfluger bridge was, Auditorium Shores, Stevie Ray, The Long Center and the Palmer Events center, the 1/4 mile and the zero mile markers and explained the direction of the trail. We saw the main trail map near the zero and got water at the coolers at Auditorium Shores. I explained the 4 mile loop and the 5 mile loop (and their correct distances), pointed out where to look for the bats in the summer, and just enjoyed showing off our trail to someone new. We also looked closely at the trail map near the rock and talked about where we had just run and where Kevin had run in the past.

The best spot on the trail has bloomed as well. Between the 2.75 and the 3.25 mile markers there is a little footbridge surrounded by blooming trees. It smells like grape soda when the flowers are in full bloom. I'm happy to report that the trees smell beautiful now, so if you have a chance to run by there, stop and smell the perfume :).

The legs felt loose this morning, which is a nice surprise after yesterday's tempo run and 200s. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Soulbuster workout.

Kevin, it was nice running with you. Hope you enjoy the trail more now that you've had the tour! Oh, and good luck at Cowtown next week. Run smart and get your time!