"Have You Seen My Horse?"

"...he's brown, runs pretty fast....." No kidding...really. Rounding the bend on the Town Lake running trail, amidst the scores of dogs and littany of jogger strollers.... A HORSE. In a town that prides itself on the motto of Keep Austin Weird, I may have seen the pinnacle of that weirdness. Mind you, not a normal horse (of course not, few things are normal in this town, thank goodness!)
This was a miniature horse out for a jog with it's owner, only to spring loose and out run said owner. Quite a site to see people chasing down a mini horse on a jogging trail that's located in the middle of the city. All kidding aside, the horse does come from a very worthwhile program called Hearts & Hooves which provides trained miniature horses and dogs to visit with ill and severely disabled kids and adults. Very worthwhile program...with, apparently, some pretty fast horses.

Speaking of fast (I use that term very loosely), I was running with the wind today... notice I didn't say "like the wind." A front brought us 25 mile per hour winds with 40mph gusts. Despite the headwind I am proud to say I was able to tick below 9 minutes a mile for two consecutive miles (8.52 and 8.58 avg pace), while still acting as a wind sail. While I can't confirm this, I think a few people were trying to draft off of me on the trail this morning while running.

Workout stats:
Downtown streets/Town Lake Trail
5.5 miles
51.51
avg pace 9.25