Back in the saddle again

Sunday morning April 19 was a beautiful day! 60 degrees and a cool northern breeze.
What a great day to hit the trails for a long run. Brian, Tom and I hit the trails at Government Canyon about 7:15 AM. We started on the climbs up Sendero Balcones. At the 3 mile mark I found a rock and stretched my achilles and calf muscles.
The plan was set by Brian, He wanted to log 25 miles that day. Tom and I would have to cut it short. Tom because of a soccer game his daughter had and I because I did not think I could run past 15 much less 25.
My foot was feeling better than I anticipated. We hit the most technical and steep trails early. Coming up Joe Johnston trail Tom spotted a large paw print. The recent rains left soft patches of dirt allowing animal prints to be visible and seemed to also make for soft treading. We stooped to examine the print and thought it was probably a large coyote.
At about 8 miles I started to slow down. At about 10 miles I felt lightheaded and stopped to eat a LaraBar(I switched from clif bars for awhile), this helped.
Tom was feeling good and running well. At mile 16 or so he bid us farewell and took off to make the soccer game. Brian and reached the parking lot at about 11:10 having covered 18+ miles. MY FOOT FELT GOOD but my lower leg muscles were a bit tight.
After chatting a bit, Brian took off up the trail for 7 more miles. I stayed behind to stretch the legs under the shade of an oak tree.
I was surprised I was able to run 18 miles. The cool weather and the company of good friends surely helped. It is so good to be back.