Back to the Finish Line

It has been about a month since I last did a group run at the Finish Line Running Store.  I headed over there for today's run.  It was mostly new runners, including one of the guys from the Breakfast Club group.

We were doing the short loop to the nearby park and back.  It started off at a nice pace, but after we got going, I had to push the pace a little more.  It wasn't comfortable, but wasn't hard either.  I was ahead of the other couple guys.  I cruised around the park, hoping that I'd take the right route.  For all the times I've run there now, I still don't know exactly where I'm going.  On the way back, I turned sooner than we usually do.  I still got back to the same place, but it ended up being a different route.

I ended up getting to the store and it was only about 2.5 miles, so I decided to head down the street and add on a simple out and back.  The one guy was just behind me, so we ran together for the last 2 miles.  He is from the Palmerton area and runs trails, so we chatted some about the trails up there.  Eventually, I'll head there for a trail run.

Some how we ended up doing an out and back, but wound up about two streets over from where we started.  It was quite puzzling.  I have no idea how that happened.  It ended up being a nice run under 4.5 miles.  The guy from BCR did five miles and came back later.  We thought we might've lost him.

I was prepared this time with a singlet, but of course the weather wasn't bad.  It was hot earlier in the day, but actually became cloudy before the run.  Luckily, the rain held off until just after we finished up.  I forgot to run hill sprints after my run.  I'm terrible at remembering that.

Earlier in the day, I went to the Nazareth Cross Country meet.  Freedom's top runner won and the great Liberty girl ran away with the girl's race.  There was a scary moment though in the girls race.  One of the top runners, from Freedom, staggered to the finish and collapsed.  They were giving her water and pouring it over her too.  Hopefully she just cramped up and was dehydrated.  It wasn't pretty to watch.  It is something you might expect to see at the end of a marathon, but not really a 5K.  I guess she really pushed it.

Sometime, I might run the Nazareth Cross Country course at the Borough Park.  It has a nice hill and runs through some wooded trails.  I'm not crazy about running on the uneven surface of grass though, so we'll see.

Tomorrow, is a 5 mile progression run with the last 12 minutes being moderate.  I'd like to incorporate a hill at the end of it.  Not sure where I'll run yet though.  My leg has started bothering me again and I might need to stick to the trails.  I didn't notice it while running, but the high ankle on my left leg is sore now.  It was a problem back in the spring and forced me to take a week off.  Hopefully, I can treat it better this time around.

4.32 miles - 35:39 (8:15 pace)