I Love Austin

Helloooo, Austin!

We're staying at the Hilton near the Convention Center, which is right next to beautiful Town Lake. I got in on Saturday night and man the weather has been just beautiful so far. There was talk of rain but I haven't seen any yet!

We took a walk around Town Lake on Sunday and people watched, which is always fun.

Then we walked around a little downtown and found a fun mural.

:P

As I was watching all the people who were running around and biking - and I thought to myself, I really want to run. So on Monday, I did! The weather was AWESOME.

Near the halfway point

Sooo happy to be running in 70 degrees!!

It's true that I had a set number of miles to reach in my head, but I was trying to listen to my body and not push it too much. I got near where I felt like it was a good place to turn around, checked my mileage, and I had gone 2.6 miles. Well.. I couldn't just go 5.2 miles. I had to round it out! So I reached my goal of 6 miles!

You can see I was getting much more tired around the last two miles. I hadn't run that far since January 31st! As I was running I just kept thinking how nice it'll be when Seattle starts to be 70 and sunny all the time, until almost October. I miss summer so much!

My hip didn't really bother me that much, and I think running more regularly will help it strengthen and ultimately heal. As long as I keep doing yoga and pull back when I feel it really start to hurt, I think it'll be okay.

I rewarded myself later in the day with these Austin staples:

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Tiny Ice Cream at Amy's (the perfect size)

Mexican Martini at Trudy's... How I've missed you!

Austin is really a food-centric town, so there's not much to do that doesn't involved eating. So far, I've eaten at these restaurants: Pappasitos, Magnolia Cafe, La Condesa, Crave, Amy's Ice Cream, Whole Foods (the original!), The Tiniest Bar in Texas, Trudy's, and Double Dave's. (Links are there to just provide you with info on the restaurants, in case you're ever in Austin. I'm not being compensated for telling you about them.) And we've really only been here two and a half days. Whew! We really are eating machines. That's okay.. I'm on vacation, and having a great time.

I'd still like to go to Hula Hut, Salt Lick, La Barbecue, The Rainey Street Bars, Hyde Park Bar and Grill, Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill, and of course, Ken's Donuts.

I'm off to a yoga class at Wanderlust Yoga here in downtown - I'm excited to try it out!