Cooler Weather

I took yesterday off since I didn't sleep much on Wednesday night and also my body was pretty beat up. Today, I went out to challenge myself with a 10 mile trail run. I drove to Ridley Creek State Park for the run.

Before the run, I headed to the Bryn Mawr Running Company in Media. I tried on a bunch of racing shoes. I was happy that they all fit pretty well, especially the Brooks. When I get my free pair of shoes, I'm going to get those. I'm also going to probably get some good North Face trail shoes soon. They are very cheap on 3point5. I'll have to try them on at our store.

The run started off near the main parking lot by the office. This time, I headed on the yellow trail, but the actual trail rather than the paved path. I wandered all through the various colored trails. The hills were tough as always, but not as bad as the first time around. I am definitely getting stronger on those.

Some of the trails were familiar from last time, but I often got lost. I now at least had a general idea of where I was though. I also encountered some new sections, including one with an old crumbling building and wheels from an old plow.

One of the areas I ran in before was the section with sticker bushes. I tried to dodge them and it was a little better than last time. Shortly after, I noticed a sticker was stuck in my head though. There were a lot of sections full of mud. It was pretty deep too. I had a blast running through it. The only thing that sucked was that I had on my old regular running shoes. My trail shoes have sat in a bag for over a week and haven't dried out yet.

At one point toward the end, I tried to run around the mud. Of course, shortly after that I came across more mud. It was still fun though. I worked on running harder through certain portions. That was great. I also was able to learn where to step better.

I seemed to a good job of timing my run. As I got around the 8 mile point, I started heading back. When I got back on the yellow trail, I decided to push it up the gradually inclining hill. It turned out it when on and on though. I was very exhausted by the end. At the parking lot, I had to run about a third of a mile to complete the 10 miles.

Although it is called Ridley Creek State Park, I really didn't see much of the creek. Only once did I seem to run by it. I ran by a lot of nice trees and such though. They are finally starting to come in.

Thankfully, the weather was better today. It was a nice and cool 60 degrees. That was a big help to run well. It was a relief from all the really hot weather.

My hamstring still bothers me, but it was definitely better by running on the soft ground. It really got stiff and sore when I was driving home. I stopped at both sides of the Heinz Wildlife Refuge afterward. I also found the Bartram Gardens on the way back. Using the foam roller afterward was a big help.

Tomorrow is an off day, but I am working from 12-8. I'll be running my long 22 miler on Sunday. I'll probably stay around here, but I have considered running some trails in the poconos. That would certainly help my sore hamstring. I hope I'll be recovered well by then.

10 miles - 1:3319 (9:20 pace)