Today was the first time I was able to run since Thursday. On Friday night, I was starting to get sick. That sickness ran all the way into Saturday. On Sunday, I headed up to Tobyhanna State Park to run on the trails. I forgot how much snow they had in the past storm. Even with all the rain, there was still a good six inches to a foot on most of the visible trail.
Even today's run didn't go very well. It has been a miserable few days weatherwise. It has been rainy and chilly. Walking back from work this evening, I got fairly wet. I knew that would make clothing selection tough and sure enough it did.
Because my jacket was already wet, I opted for ColdGear as a base layer. I didn't want to freeze if I was out for long and water started coming through the jacket. It turned out, the rain died down before I actually started running. The extra layer on top, combined with gloves and tights, caused me to be very hot.
I was able to get up early this morning, but couldn't get myself to start running. I was planning on a long and hard run and didn't want to do so before work. Plus, I hoped that the weather might clear up in the evening. It didn't and getting out the door at night was tough. As soon as I knew I was wearing too much, I backed off and elected for the regularly scheduled day. It was an easy 6 miler.
The first mile was very slow and sluggish. The extra clothes, combined with the long layoff, made it tough. I seriously thought about quitting early on. I just kept battling though and plugged away. I was able to catch a cute girl at one point.
It was still fairly windy. Even though I was hot underneath, I did need the wind protection. I'm really not sure how I should've dressed for this one. It was just one of those tough days. I eventually, somehow made it to the 3 mile point.
Shortly before turning around, a cute girl passed me going the other way. I ran pretty hard to catch her. She was actually moving at a good clip though. It took awhile for me to catch up to hear. Eventually I did though and also passed her. I continued to run hard through the finish.
One of the interesting spot along the run was at the Columbia Bridge. It is a low section of the river and must've been flooded over the weekend. There was a significant amount of water and mud on the path. I never really considered not running through it, even though I didn't have my trail shoes on. It was sloppy, but fun. Luckily, the river doesn't flood much and that is one of the few sections that does.
I need to work on getting to bed earlier and getting up earlier. That's a focus of mine this week. I want to get my runs in in the morning. Even though I'm running in the evening with the run club, I want to get in a morning workout tomorrow as well. I have an interval session scheduled. Hopefully I can crank that out before work.
Although I haven't run much lately, I still should be good to go for the half marathon this weekend. These last couple weeks have provided a nice taper of sorts. How I'll get back to high mileage afterwards is another question.
6 miles - 47:51 (7:58 pace)
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