A boy pulling his fishing net from White Rock Lake is such a joyful sight it will make you crash into your running buddy. A woman running with her dogs behind you is less scary than a pack of schoolteachers running behind you.

You have to add some outs-and-backs to a run around the lake to get the miles in. If you don’t get the out-and-backs lurking around the lovely Lakewood neighborhood, just drive the neighborhood when the race is over instead.

You aren’t wasting your time wishing for good weather in Texas if she dishes up sunny, dry and 65 degrees. Weed-whacking the lake’s edge waits for no one.

Two years of training for long races makes for a deeper level of mental toughness, but you gotta stop and look at the pumpkin houses anyways.