Six weeks down, zero runs missed. Last week was the first real big week. On tap was 50 miles of left foot, right foot, repeat. The real highlight though was our trip to Seattle. That’s right, Ev and I escaped the swelterfest known as Austin and made our way up into the Pacific Northwest for a long weekend for rest and relaxation. And running.

The week started off with a tough tempo run, but I hit all of my target paces. Really felt good to get a solid run in the books. After an easy recovery and uneventful 11 miler it was off to Seattle. We left Thursday after work and, thanks to the time change, arrived with plenty of time to check in to the hotel and grab some drinks.

Like I mentioned, the big news was the weather. Friday morning I got up for a 7 mile easy run. I turned it into 8 because it was just too nice not to be out there*. I also completely lost track of my pace, which was supposed to be an easy aerobic run (e.g. 8:30+ min/mi) but ended up getting away from me at 8:00 min/mi. I just couldn’t help myself in the cool, crisp air.

Which brings us to Saturday’s long run, also known as hills-mania. After lots of indecision about where to run I decided on heading east to Lake Washington and running south along the shore, around a park, and then retrace my path back to the hotel. Great plan, except for two giant wrenches thrown into the gears:

1) The road along the shore would be closed for the day due to Seattle’s annual Seafair. I left the hotel, concentrated real hard on the route that I memorized, and made my way across the mountains (see item #2, below). I finally made it to the beautiful shore-front and started my journey south. About half a mile down, though, I was greeted with a chain link fence and uniformed park people. They kindly told me that the road was closed unless I paid entry. At the time I didn’t realize it was for the Seafair, and rather just for normal Saturday park patronage. What could it be, $3? Try $30. I turned around.

2) The east/west road to/from Lake Washington is crazy hilly. I didn’t know this when I made my plan, but I sure has heck knew it as I started on my 18 mile journey. You can definitely see the mirror image of the hills, and exactly how long short of a “break” I had right there

in the middle at mile 5. It may have been a blessing in disguise, because I got to finish my run on a flat course, rather than wrapping up going back over those monster hills.

Overall my running in Seattle was near perfect. The weather was outstanding and the running paths, though challenging, were beautiful. Definitely ended Week 6 on a high note.

*About 2.5 years ago I had been to Seattle for a work conference and incidentally ran along exact

same path

. As I started recognizing things, like restaurants and bridges, I couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity even after 30 months.