Why was there someone dressed up in a gorilla suit at the UT vs Kansas State basketball game on Saturday?  For the first half, I figured it was simply because Austin is a bit weird.  Then at half time a team of characters from Bevo to a Schlotzsky‘s sandwich played a half court game for some charity cause.  The gorilla was easily the high scorer of the 10 minute madness.  My father-in-law took me to the game – he’s a season ticket holder.  This was a must win game if Texas hopes to be invited to the NCAA tourney.  Things didn’t look good the first half as UT made less than 30% of their shots, but they took the lead in the 4th period and pulled off an 11 point win.  Hook ’em Horns!

Today is my 8th day in Austin and it’s been going well.  Upon arrival I was immediately invited (some say self-invited) to a super bowl party.  And I won a dollar on the final score.  Working hasn’t been an issue.  My mom’s wifi and broadband are sufficient to meet my needs, as is the signal for my mobile.

My running regimen has changed up a bit.  I ran sun-mon-tue-thur-fri.  I didn’t have time for a run Wednesday and Saturday.  And I was okay with that knowing the rest would be good for my plantar fasciitis.  I’m a little disappointed right now because as I went outdoors for a really long run, I had to come back inside due to the weather.  It’s raining ice at the moment.  I suspect that will turn into rain – but it’s too cold to run without gloves and probably tights as well.  I didn’t bring cold weather running gear with me on this trip.  I knew there might be a day or two like this but didn’t care to pack for it.

Still, the positive here is that my runs have all been 6 or 7 miles.  That’s double what I was running in January at home in Colorado.  And I feel it.  My body, or fitness, is such that I barely feel the effects of a 3 miler.  But 6 miles is enough to make me notice tightness in my stomach and firmness in my legs.  Unfortunately it also stresses my left foot a bit too much.  I’m still wearing the Strassburg sock to bed and it does mitigate the plantar fasciitis.

I have the Austin Half Marathon next Sunday and my plan was to run that distance today.  It would be a confidence builder if nothing else.  I haven’t run over 10 miles all year.  I know I can run the distance but seems like a good idea to prep my body before the race with a nice long, slow run.  Maybe this cold rain will dry up and I can still get outside.