I ran my long run this morning with the Breakfast Club Runners. We ran at the Plainfield Rail Trail. Most people were only doing about six miles, but I ran 9 miles. That's the furthest I've done so far since I've come back to running. Since I missed my 8 miler last week, 7 miles had actually been my previous long. It is also the same distance as my Thanksgiving Day race in Berwick.
It was good because two of the girls from my relay team were there. I ran with them for 3 miles until they turned around. They were running 12 miles and had already run 6 of them. There were also a few more people in that pack as well. I think we had 7 people total.
The pace was perfect. At first, it didn't actually seem fast enough and I considering going ahead. I looked at my watch and thought it was slow, but realized I just read my watch wrong. We were running under 8:30 pace. That's ideal for where I'm at now.
The trail was wet and full of leaves, but thankfully the weather was good. It was very comfortable. There were a lot of black walnuts on the path and avoiding them became a bit of a pain. Overall, it was a good day though.
My legs were definitely a bit dead from all the miles and consecutive days that I ran this week. When the girls left me, I slowed my pace. I did still stay under a 9 minute pace throughout the run though. I tried to concentrate on form and that really helped. Running tall sure does make things easier.
I was actually struggling and relieved when I hit the turnaround. Just before that, I passed a group that looked like middle schoolers. I was hoping to catch them, but they stopped right away. Most of the run was uneventful. With less than three miles to go, I hit somewhat of an uphill portion. That became a little tough. With two miles left, my IT band acted up a bit. It never got too bad though.
The trail is basically flat, but there is definitely a slight incline at spots. It is very noticeable on a long run like this when you are tired. Even slight uphills can be tough, while downhill parts seem cake. Most of the change in slope is so minor that it isn't even visually noticeable.
I just kept focusing on each mile at a time as I got toward the end. I knew the last two would be pretty tough and they were. With about a mile and a half to go, they was a noticeable hill and I struggled some through that. I never fell off the wagon though. My last mile was actually among my fastest of the run. I was happy that I wasn't too sore afterward. It was better than I expected. I did still take an ice bath at home though. I was wearing grey shorts and my crotch area and behind were noticeably sweaty. I'll have to make a note not to wear those again for a group run.
After the run, I went over to the middle school and watched a 5K. A few of the Breakfast Club Runners were in it, so I took some pictures too. I debated running in it, but just wanted to run my long run. Too bad too, because it wasn't very fast. The winner was just over 18 minutes and only 7 people broke 20 minutes. I'm sure I could've placed, but I'm not looking to collect more hardware. I just like running races in my hometown, so that really would've been the reason to run it.
Watching the race was a good recovery. Better than sitting there stiff at breakfast would've been. Tomorrow is a much needed off day after running 6 days this week (7 runs). Monday is back into the groove with some speedwork. Not sure where I'll run that at yet.
9 miles - 1:17:11 (8:35 pace)
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