Now that Quadzilla is over, it is time to start stretching out the long runs. Even though I've done over 9 miles, that was on the hilly course with plenty of walking uphill. I think 6 miles is the most straight running I've actually done up to this point. Today, I went out with the Breakfast Club Runners and did 8 miles.
It was a smaller group than usual. Many of the regulars were on vacation or elsewhere. The two speedsters Mertz and Flo weren't there. That left the other Chris, Kelley and I to set the pace. We ran on the Nor-Bath Trail, which I was thrilled about because it is the closest route to my house that they run. It took me less than 10 minutes to get there. I was so early that I had to wait around 20 minutes for everyone else to show.
I started off behind Karl and a couple others. He had already run a few miles, so he was warmed up. It took me a little while to get going. When I saw the pace was kind of slow in the first half mile I said to Kelley, "okay let's go." We took off ahead. I was surprised to see Chris didn't follow. He's faster than me right now and finished near Kelley in the Quadzilla last week.
After all the hot days lately, it was a gorgeous day to run. It was cloudy and cool. The temperature was in the 70s. I wish it was a race day. I'm praying for the weather to be even close to that on the day of the Blue Eagle 5k.
One thing with group runs is there isn't much to write about. I'm not as perceptive to the things around me and how my body is feeling. I get so involved in chatting with the others, that I don't even look at my watch too often. Time seems to fly by. I could write some about our conversations while running, but that would get pretty boring.
Kelley and I cruised out. The pace was a little quick early. We probably could've ran slower throughout. My lower legs were a little sore early, but they came around. At one point, a tree was down and we had to go around it one by one. The only other eventful thing on the way out was the dead mouse that caused Kelley to yell as she jumped over it. I also decided that I would have some fun, so I jumped over the low gates at road crossings.
We went out four miles. Shortly after we turned around, we can across Chris (who was now flying). It didn't take him too long to catch up to us. We noted that once he did catch up, it forced us to push the pace a little. For the rest of the back portion of this run, we ran together.
Apparently Chris said something to Kelley at Quadzilla without knowing who she was. It is funny that Kelley ends up running with people in races and then meets them later. The same thing happened with this guy Peter that joined our Thursday run group. She beat him in a sprint finish at the 5k the day before they ran together.
The pace coming back was fairly comfortable, but on the clock it was nice and fast. I'm actually kind of glad Mertz and Flo weren't there. Eventually, I want to run with them and hang on as long as I can. That's probably not a good idea to do that yet though. Running at that pace with Chris and Kelley was good enough for now.
On the way back we had the same mouse yell and same maneuvering around the branches. I didn't like running three wide at the end, so I pushed the pace as we were almost done. Then Kelley asked if we were nearly done and when we said yes, she took off. I playfully sprinted ahead, but then fell back. Today isn't the day for racing. I let Chris and Kelley finish a little ahead of me. Yesterday was a hard enough day for my legs. They feel pretty good today. Hopefully I'm getting over the potential injury problems.
I went out to breakfast and that was fun too. It is a good chance to talk to the others in the group that I don't normally get to run with. For some reason, I was actually hungry. That usually isn't the case after a run. In fact, it is usually the complete opposite. I typically can't eat a thing.
There was talk of going to Merrill Creek in New Jersey next week. That would be great. That's a fun loop around the lake. I might even be able to get my dad to go. He could get some awesome pictures of us from his kayak. I definitely want to keep running longer and longer on Saturdays. I'm doing a half marathon in November, but I want to build up well beyond 13 miles. I am hoping to get my long run up to at least 17 miles. I'm not sure if I have ever actually run over distance long runs before a long race before. That's a strategy that I might consider for my marathon training, especially if I decide to run a 50 miler too.
I've now run for 7 straight days. I'm am finally taking off tomorrow. I'm sure my body with thank me. I put in a good 35.99 miles this week. Next week, I might need to back off a bit. I'm planning on some speedwork on Monday. I talked to Kelley about maybe running a fartlek together sometime next week. That could be fun. I've run those alone, but never with someone. It could be challenging. Hopefully we don't kill each other. Since we have a LVRR Family Hike coming up at Walking Purchase Park, I do want to run there sometime next week. I went once last year, but it was just too hot that day. The trail was quite rocky too.
8 miles - 1:08:52 (8:36 pace)
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