~10 miles @ ~11.4 min/mi

"Good morning, Honeybunch!" the school crossing guard greets me at dawn. Hmmm — it's dark, but not that dark, during a last-day-of-visit ~10 mile loop around my Mother's neighborhood in northeast Austin TX (see Runtastic GPS for map/pace/elevation). "Hi, Mark!" neighbor and new friend Sharon shouts as I trot by her home on the final stretch.

In between: commuters in their cars line up to cross the highway, narrow shoulders make for scary jogging, four socks (none matching) lie by Decker Rd within a single quarter mile, a huge city power plant glows on Walter E. Long Lake, intermittent sidewalks under construction make for tricky footing by Daffan Lane, and a styrofoam memorial cross with blue plastic flowers stands next to Old Manor Rd to remind one to step aside into the weeds or hug the guard-rail when trucks zoom past.

At mile 8 I divert to photograph the X.T.C. sign at a club where my Mom jokes she wants to have her next birthday party. Hmmmm, "Wednesday Night Oil Wrestling" — is that a new Texas petro-magnate sport?

^z - 2014-05-12