Pennypack Park

I am always looking for new areas to run in, especially as my runs get longer. Today was my longest midweek run thus far and I believe for the rest of the training cycle. I ran 12 miles in Pennypack Park in Northeast Philadelphia.

The park is fairly easy to get to because it is right off of 95. At first, I was going to start at the Delaware River. Although there is a lot of parking in this area, the path doesn't connect very well. You actually have to cross a road to get there. I then drove up further to Torresdale Avenue, but had no luck there either. There was so much mud on the path that it was not passable. The area seemed pretty shady too, with a lot of graffiti.

Eventually, I parked on Welsh Road and found a spot there. I started off going past the concert stage. I then actually took a shortcut part of the path that I didn't know about. I ended up crossing a road and was frustrated. I was worried this would be the norm. Luckily, it wasn't. The path was uninterrupted from there on out. There was also an actually parking area nearby.

I started at a nice and comfortable pace, unlike last week's crazy progression run. I got into a fine good. It was a wonderful rout along the creek. The path is paved, although muddy in some portions. It looks like the park officials do a good job of cleaning mud from this portion of the creek though.

I ran a pretty solid pace in the early going. After a couple miles, I was surprised to encounter some hills. I expected this run through the city to be flat. The hills were typically short, but steep. It was a beautiful setting, except for the graffiti. There were a lot of people out running as well.

At one point, I turned off the main path. I came across a man on horseback coming the other way. I was worried about passing the horse on the way back. The path is a decent size, but I don't know if coming from behind a horse would spook it. Luckily, I never encountered him again.

This run called for the final 6 miles at a moderate pace. I wondered how I'd be able to get through the final 6 miles at all. Before that point, my IT band was starting to get sore from the hills, I was hot and my legs were a little tired too.

As usual, I just took it little by little. After the six mile mark, I said to myself, "just run hard for two more miles." I laid down a nice 7:15 pace on one of those. After that, I battled some more for the next two miles. I just keep looking at my watch and it is encouraging to see the distance tick away.

The final two miles were very tough. The one good thing though is that it was mostly flat towards the end of the run. I remember telling myself at mile 10.5, that I only had half a 5K left to go. I got to the final mile and went past where I originally came from. I wanted to make sure I had ample time to cool down by walking after the run.

I really struggled in the last half mile, but willed myself to finish. It felt great to do so. It's amazing that I can push this hard for such a long distance right now. I should be in very good shape once the half marathon comes around in two months.

The weather wasn't too bad. It was much colder than it has been lately, but was still only in the 30s. The trees blocked a lot of the wind. A couple stretches I could feel it though. It was very windy along the Delaware, so I'm glad I didn't run there. My wardrobe selection was pretty good though.

I didn't realize it, but I almost ran to the end of the trail. It was probably only about a half mile from where I turned around. I'll definitely run there again. It'll be better to do runs there on my easy days though. With all the hills, I don't need to run hard. The whole loop looks to be about 18 miles or so. I should be able to get some of my longer runs done there.

Tomorrow is another easy six mile recovery run. I work an odd 10-4 shift, so I'll likely run after work. Following that, I'm heading back to my parents house for a couple days. That'll give me a chance to run something different on Friday.

12 miles - 1:31:40 (7:38 pace)