Even with some steps up and down from the canal, Dallas is a flat place to run. I was in town for Saturday with some friends, but still took the time to go off and do my recovery run; we were scheduled for 10-12 miles, I ended up clocking 9.33 and figured that was pretty good for a solo out of town excursion.

We were staying at the Mariott Las Colinas, and when I headed out I wasn’t exactly sure where a good place to run would be. I messed around on the canal for a mile or so, getting frustrated at the lack of a coherent tow-path, and ended up heading East on O’Connor which turned out to be exactly the right thing to do. About 3/4 of a mile in from 114 I stumbled across the Trinity River Trail, which seems to be around five miles of paved concrete bike/run path along the water in Irving. While the concrete is a little hard on your feet, especially if (like me) you haven’t changed your shoes in a while, the scenery makes for an attractive run option.

I headed North towards 635 and didn’t quite get there before my breakfast-mandated turn around time. It was a slow run since I stopped to chat to a couple of people about the trail, and to read the various signs along the way. At one point this took me past the Las Colinas riding stables’ polo field and jumping course, which was a great diversion. No ponies out this early, unfortunately, but there were several signs telling me not to run on the trails unless I could do so on horseback.

When I reached the end of my range for the day, around 10km, I stretched a little, then headed back at a faster pace. I wanted to do sub-8s, but a lack of any kind of fluid intake or people to run with sapped my will a bit and I ended up averaging closer to 8:20. The 2nd mile from the end was even slower, at 8:40, but that had some hilly cross-country in it as I ran around (and through a dry part of) a detention pond to get back to my hotel more efficiently.

After I made it back I hooked up with Marcus and we did 5-6 100M strides on the canal path together, did a little more stretching, and then it was time to get cleaned up to meet our better halves for breakfast. All in all a pretty decent run.

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