Back Home Again

Not in Indiana, but instead in Nazareth. After a long and fun weekend in Indianapolis, it was back to Pennsylvania. I didn't run on race day so I decided on a long run today (Memorial Day). I went back to an old 4 mile loop that I used to run all the time a decade ago.

This route used to be an easy day for me when I was at my peak. I was able to finish it today and it's the first time I've definitely run 4 miles or more since I started running 5 weeks ago. When I started off today, my goal was to finish this run, but I figured I'd probably fall short.

The course is much more hilly than what I'm used to in Philadelphia. There are plenty of hills in my hometown, but not much in the City of Brotherly Love. I was never fast on flat surfaces, but I used to be outstanding making up time on the hills.

I really thought the hills would bother my knee injury and just wear me down in general. That didn't happen until near the end of the run though. Going uphill did bother my knee some, but I battled through it and it never got too sore. I am definitely building up strength in my knee and the stretching I'm doing seems to be happening soon. The cool weather late in the evening helped too.

It is interesting how some days play out. In the past few weeks, I felt great early on in runs but couldn't finish. Today, I was sluggish at the start, but got through it and ran pretty well. I tried to just keep up good solid form during the entire run, especially when going uphill. Although, I was dead at the end, I still could've actually pushed harder. My goal was to just finish the run though. I didn't keep my time, but I think I would've clocked pretty well too.

One of the interesting parts of the run was that I ran into two bugs that almost derailed my run. The first one flew right in my eye about halfway through. I managed to get to the point where it didn't irritate me anymore. Towards the end, a bug flew in my mouth and caused me to cough. I've certainly come across bugs from time to time, but it doesn't happen that often and I don't think I've ever had that happen twice on the same run.

I have run a lot over the last week, so tomorrow it's time to get back on the bike. I'll likely do a short ride then and follow it up with a short run on Wednesday. I'd like to try to run 5 or 6 miles on Friday. Some rest and time on the bike this week will be a key to being able to do that though. I'm really happy with progress I've made in these first five weeks. Now, I just have to keep it up.