Mill Race Park

After an easy day yesterday, it was another easy day for me today.  I decided I'd run relatively close to my place.  I haven't run at Mill Race Park in Palmer in awhile, so I headed.  This is a nice little route, mostly along the Bushkill Creek.  The plan was to run 5 miles.

I got up early in the morning for once.  It was still fairly humid and I'm glad I went without a shirt.  I'm sure people weren't too crazy about seeing that combined with my short running shorts.  I started off heading towards Tatamy.  This trail is nice and flat.  It is mostly paved, but part of it in Tatamy is stone.

I felt alright early on.  I went to the end of Tatamy and back.  That was about a mile and a half to my car.  The section at Mill Race Park is tough because there is no shade.  The rest of the route is shaded though and there is often a breeze off of the creek.

I was sore from the pounding of the road.  My theory that softer surfaces would work better for my legs right now was definitely true.  The bottom of my right foot was a little sore along with my usual spots on my shins.  A couple times I took a step down and some pain briefly shot through my leg.

Because of that, I decided to turn around early, rather than run to Penn Pump Park.  This was around mile 2.5 and I figured I'd run to mile 3 and then stop.  I don't know if I just took some wrong steps or maybe the trail was sloped funny or something, but I experienced no more pain.

Since I was feeling better, I kept going after I hit mile 3.  I went past Mill Race Park again and went back towards Tatamy.  I continued out to the edge of Tatamy again and came back.  My pace got faster throughout the run (without more effort), until the final mile.  Then I slowed a bit.  When I got back to the park, I was right at my planned distance of 5 miles.

It was good to make it through the run.  My shins still continue to bother me though.  It is more of a nuisance than anything right now.  Taking it easy isn't helping as much as I'd like.  I might have to take another day off this week, maybe Friday.  I'm not sure how much that will help though.  I could probably use 4 or 5 days off.

I was bored this afternoon, so I drove an hour and a half each way to Campmor in New Jersey.  It is a big camping and outdoor store, kind of like REI.  They didn't have much of a running selection, but I did get a running jacket for only 50 bucks and an orange long sleeve shirt for 25.  I need a lighter jacket for the rain, so that works great.  The shirt will be good to wear in hunting season.

Tomorrow will be my last speedwork session before next weekend's Blue Eagle 5k.  The original plan to is run a fartlek with Kelley.  We haven't cemented those plans yet though.  We were talking about the Saucon Rail Trail, so maybe we'll run there.  Thursday will be the usual group run.  Tom is back from vacation and is trying to put together another night run on Saturday.  It would go along the D&L Trail from Sand Island this time.  That would be fun because this time, I want to do 10 miles.  Last time, I could only do about 4 miles.

5 miles - 46:23 (9:17 pace)