Playing in the Mud

I was hoping to do some type of speed session after my day off yesterday.  I still had some muscle soreness though, so I elected for an easy day instead.  Either way, the plan was to fit the run in between my doctor's appointment and the Nazareth baseball game.  Therefore, running Jacobsburg was one of the few options.

I figured I'd do the longer loop that I did last year.  The plan was to do about 4 miles easy.  I couldn't remember quite how far that loop would take me.  The beginning of the run was a little tough.  It was a gradual uphill, but all the hills on Sunday had my calves sore.

Nevertheless, the first mile was a good warmup.  I came across the same cat on the trail that I saw a couple weeks ago.  It was in the same area, so I'm guessing it is a stray.  It darted in the woods pretty quickly.

I wore some new sunglasses that I bought today.  They are a little better than completely cheap sunglasses, but not expensive enough to bother me when I lose them like I always seem to do.  I wore them early on and they seemed to work pretty good.  Sweating on them is usually the problem, but so far so good with this pair.  I didn't wear them that long though since it was cloudy out and I was in woods most of the time.

Pretty early on, I encountered a pleasant surprise.  There was mud on a section that isn't usually mud.  I love mud, so this was a great sign.  We had a lot of rain lately and some of the shaded areas didn't dry out.  The second mile along route 33 winds in and out.  That combined with the mud made it a slow go.  It was fun and the times seemed to fly by.  I was taking it easy, but some of the short hills were a little on the tough side.  There is one section that goes downhill and it is often a stream.  I was surprised to see it was relatively dry.  I guess all the water had run down already.

Since I was already encountering more mud that usual in these spots, I knew the area that is usually muddy would be outstanding.  It sure didn't disappoint.  There was some fairly deep mud and plenty of standing water.  Some sections were almost impassible.  I went through them swiftly though.  I got my foot stuck in there last year and lost my shoe for a moment.  The key to mud is to be light on your feet and just go through it quickly.  Luckily, I am good at that.

After the muddy section the trail became a lot less interesting and much easier after that point.  I was disappointed to see that they cleared a lot of trees along the one powerline.  Because the one section was solid and boring, I decided to run on a dirt trail that was created just above the normal path.  That was good, but it didn't last long.

I was worried that I had gone out too far.  I didn't turn earlier because I wasn't in the mood to go over the creek crossing.  Instead, I used the bridge.  I then came out back on the road.  By this time, I was actually tiring some.  I hit the four mile point before the parking lot, so I decided to run past the parking lot and into the wide hard trail for awhile.  That added another half mile to the run.

After the run an old dog wandered toward me.  I felt bad because it could barely walk.  It was very friendly though.  Too bad it was so slow and its days are number.

I didn't even think about mud on the trail, so that was a huge bonus.  It made this run a blast.  At times, it was challenging, but I'm getting stronger and running at Jacobsburg is getting much easier.  It is nice a close though and I still enjoy going there.  I also didn't get into the steeper sections too much yet either.  Maybe I'll add those in more in the near future.

I'm hoping I'll be a little more recovered tomorrow.  No matter what, I'm doing some sort of speed session.  I'll like do a fartlek.  That will allow me to run hard whenever I feel like it and run easy whenever I need it.  I'm thinking I'll run it on the D&L Trail, but not sure.  I wouldn't mind something with some hills.

I have to get my run in early because I'm going to the LVRR Summer Series 5k in the evening.  I'll be the race photographer and I'll put my pictures on facebook.  It is fun and I enjoy doing it.  Hopefully I'll be recovered by then.  I might have to consider a post run ice bath tomorrow.


4.5 miles - 44:27 (9:53 pace)