I ran pretty hard yesterday, but recovered fine with an extra couple hours of rest. Even so, I decided that I wanted to just do an easy day. I sort of did as I was leading the LVRR Group Run. I only ran 4 miles and skipped the big hill. It was still fairly fast though.
With Kelley and the rest of the regulars gone. I was thinking I could relax. One of the slower runners from last week, Jen, made an appearance again. I would've ran with her if Akshay was there, but he wasn't. That meant I had to lead.
I started off easy with one of the new guys. I think his name was Rich. For the sake of this writing, he will be referred to as Rich. He was a former Lehigh runner. We headed over the small hills first. That gets your legs going quickly. We also had to dodge some kids that were running the hills. That was entertaining.
The weather was finally rather comfortable. That helped make the workout a joy. Rich and I chatted and time just flew by as it always does in group runs. I felt like we were running very easy, but I was surprised to see how quick the pace was. It was well under 8:30 and just kept going down as the run went on.
I was able to chat comfortably at that pace. It is amazing because just two months ago running slower than this was very difficult and had me breathing heavy on a group run. I guess the speedwork and group running is paying off and I'm improving significantly.
Since I was planning on an easy day, I opted to skip the big hill near the Fish Hatchery. I also wanted to shorten the run because I ran too long on Tuesday. Four miles would be enough for today. It worked out well because that was almost exactly how long the route ended up being. We stopped right after the clubhouse.
After stopping, another new runner, Steve finished up just behind us. I think his name was Steve, but not 100% sure on that one. Anyway, he said that he ran with Jen for awhile but she told him to go on. He said he was running hard and could see us, but couldn't quite catch us. He also said it didn't look like we were going hard and he was right because we weren't.
The three of us went into the clubhouse after the run and had some water. As we were in there another guy came in and asked us if we were the group run. He said he ran by himself because he was 20 minutes late, but hopes to join the group in the future. It was great having so much new interest.
After a bit, I headed back out to see if Jen was still around. I caught her in her car before she left. She did say she got lost a little. I was hoping now that she ran in the Parkway twice, she'd find her way back. I feel bad because she drove over an hour each way to run with people and this week she had to run alone. I'll try to stick with her more in the future if I have to. That's more important that running at a pace that I want.
Without the normal group, I was worried that no one would show up. It was great to have some others tonight. Hopefully the group will continue to grow. It would be nice if it got big enough that we could have several different small groups running at different paces. That's ideal so that people don't have to run alone.
Tomorrow will be another short recovery day. I was reading about a high school in the Poconos and decided that I should hike and run up that way. There are some cool waterfalls on a trail. If it isn't too crowded and the terrain isn't bad, I'll run it. If not, then I'll just hike there and run the McDade Trail. That is a long trail along the Delaware River. It should be a fun and relaxing day before Saturday's long run.
4 miles - 32:40 (8:10 pace)
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