As usual since it is Monday, I did my “life maintenance” activity, laundry, cleaning the apartment and other necessary activities. Since the apartment is small it does not take long to clean it up. The laundry always throws me off as it takes much longer than in the U.S. For me, it does not really matter as I do not have many clothes so usually it is only one load in the small washing machine and everything fits on the drying rack. Sheets add to the drying issue but is still easy.

After the “life maintenance”, I went out for my weekly long run. I am trying to get back in race shape as I am signed up for the Toulouse Half Marathon and I have not run a race in a number of years. This run gave me hope that I might be able to have a reasonable time. I did 10 miles at around a 7:50 pace. What made me the most comfortable and confident was that the last two miles were my two fastest. I will be interested about how the legs feel tomorrow after the workout.

I thought I had mastered the circuits in the Parc de Garonne but was wrong. I do not think I have followed the exact circuit on any of my runs in the Parc. The signage shows the circuits but the actual turns and routes are not super well marked. For the first half of the run, I was good. Then I missed a turn but did not realize it and when I figured it out, I backtracked and found the route that i needed to follow and got to the Lateral Canal. Somehow I missed the turn off from the canal to get back in the Parc. It was actually a good mistake as the path along the Lateral Canal came back into Toulouse and met up with the Canal de Brienne which is very close to my apartment. Also, the path is paved and straight with no hills. This allowed me to have a smooth, quick run at the end. Also, since I run on midday Monday’s there were not a lot of runners. I will probably used this path in the future. It is pretty for the most part but does run by some industrial areas.

There is a lake in the Parc that has some kind of water park that looks like it is a lot of fun. It has this apparatus in the center that looks like some kind of slide and jump.

After lunch, I met Nancy MacLellan and her husband for a glass of wine in Place de Capitole. I had met Nancy on one of the Taste of Toulouse tours that I took on my first trip to Toulouse. She had followed my blog and messaged me that she was coming to Toulouse. I responded that it would be nice to get together when they were here. It was fun to catch up with them and chat about Toulouse. They are here for 4 weeks so we will get together again after Jesse and Jen have visited. It is night to meet people who like to travel and enjoy the adventure.

I replaced some of the carbs I lost with a beer at La Reserve and then headed home and made dinner.

All in all a good day.