I’m on my way to Austin, Texas, with about three hours of uninterrupted writing time. I’ve already covered the topics of baseball and adoption in two separate posts. By the way, I got up early and completed my 5k run before catching this flight. I initially thought I might have to drop-down to the one-mile minimum, but I was able to preserve that 5k streak-within-a-streak. I’m, of course, still striving for the ten-year mark of daily runs, and will get there at the end of the year. It looks like I will cross that mark in Indianapolis, probably on icy roads. In the meantime, I’ll continue to keep this “5k a Day” mini-streak alive. It’s all about maintaining goals, my only job in retirement.

Fortunately, nothing eventful has happened on my morning runs, but it’s getting darker every morning. After a little route-variety on the streets of downtown Austin, that will certainly bring back memories, we have two trips to Chicago and Indy, plus a long weekend in Bend. Year eleven of “The Streak” will take me to Arizona and Thailand for starters. I hope that by that time, I will have moved up a few places on the USSRA “length of active streak” chart into the Too 200. I currently am ranked at #203, so a little bad luck on someone else’s part could get me to that silly goal. I say that because I only move-up at someone else’s expense, so it comes with mixed emotions, as I continue to my marvel at my good fortunes avoiding injuries. At this stage of the competition, after years of habit no one actually forgets to run their minimum mile every day. Only injury, surgery, or death might cause you to miss a day, although I’m not sure about that last one!

I’d have to admit that my speed is down to “just chugging along,” now a distant step below jogging and only slightly above speed walking. At the top of the foot-o-meter is dashing and actually running, levels that I haven’t experienced for years. It takes nearly 40 long minutes to complete a 5k, when it used to be well under 30. Actual race times are embarrassing, so I prefer to delete my times after each run. I also probably look ridiculous, as others pass me by, and look forward to morning darkness shrouding my performance.. As I’ve often written in these daily accounts, “Just To Be Done,” is what I strive for each morning

I have a free pass to this year’s Pints to Pasta road race, but we’ll be out of town. There is currently not a single organized run on my schedule, and I think I’ll keep it that way. I seem to be at least temporarily motivated by the 5k a day challenge. I also continue to hover at the 12-pound weight loss level, with the only violations in my diet related to too much alcohol. That will not change in Austin. “Chug. Forrest. Chug”