Another Night Run

I ran at night for the second day in a row. I worked an early shift again. This time, I ran back at my parents house. I was supposed to run an 8 mile progression run, but I only made it 6.62 miles.

I didn't get out to running until 9:30 PM. By that time, it was freezing cold. The weather was in the upper teens with the wind chill near zero. This is one time where I was pretty cold in my tights. My jacket made my upper body comfortable. There wasn't a lot of wind, but a constant cold breeze. I went back and forth with where my jacket hood up.

I ran on a gravel trail from Bath to Northampton. It goes mostly through farm fields, with some residential areas too. With a full moon out, it was easy to see the trail. The trail was well maintained and I didn't trip or have any other problems with footing.

I went out at a decent pace on this flat route. It was a little eerie running through the darkness. I got worried that an animal could be hiding in the bushes and attack me. That caused me to run faster. Even though I was supposed to run fast at the end, I ran hard throughout.

I went out until 3.3 miles. I didn't want to get too far out, just in case something did happen. I really should've carried a cell phone. It was a nice route, with only a couple road crossing. I'll definitely consider running there when it gets warmer.

After turning around, my IT band really started bothering me. It got worse and worse, but I continued to run hard. Eventually, I got used to it. When I got back to where I started and slowed a bit, my knee just quit. I wanted to actually complete the full eight mile run, but my knee was just too tight.

Tomorrow is an off day. I might run the final 1.38 miles of today's run, just as a statement. Maybe resting makes more sense. I don't know. I got a foam roller and ankle weights. Hopefully that'll help with my IT band problems. I've been able to manage it, but it would be nice to get rid of it once and for all.

6.62 miles - 49:13 (7:26 pace)