I struggle to get up to run, so it is great having the Breakfast Club Runners to go with on Saturday mornings. It gives me a group commitment. Flo was planning on running 12 miles, so I suggested that since I'm doing the same, we should meet up early. I got there a little before 6:45 and she was running late. I waited 5 minutes, but I had to go so that I could try to get 5 miles in before the main group.
We were meeting up at Eddyside, along the Delaware just north of Easton. I figured everyone would run along the river, so I started alone going uphill towards Lafayette College. I don't even think I made it a quarter of a mile before turning around. It was just too early for that kind of climb. Maybe in the second half of the run. As I got back near Eddyside, I thought I saw Flo pull up, but I wasn't sure. I should've checked. Instead, I just headed south along the river.
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| Free Bridge, Easton (not my photo) |
I never ran here before with the group, so I didn't know exactly where they normally go. I crossed over the Lehigh River after Larry Holmes Drive and guessed correctly. They ran west along the canal path. I've also never run this section at all before. I knew I had it right when I came to Angie and a bunch of the others from the BCR group. I figured it was also time to turn around soon.
Right before I came to Angie, Flo caught up with me. She must've been flying since I was quite far ahead. She had asked me beforehand if I could do an 8 minute pace. I was running about 8:30 on my own. When she caught up, we picked up the pace and continued on.
We turned around at about 2.33 miles. I knew I'd be a little short of the planned 5 miles for this leg. That was okay though now that I had someone to run with. We chatted a lot on the way back, discussing training and stuff like that. I actually wanted to run over the free bridge into New Jersey, but we ended up going under it.
Before I knew it, we were back to Eddyside. Flo ran a little farther around the parking lot to get her watch even with me. I didn't know she was doing that, so I ran a short loop on the nearby road. That got me to 4.73 miles before meeting up with the main group. We must've looked ridiculous running around the parking lot.
We hung out in the parking lot briefly before heading out again with the main pack. I quickly changed into my minimal shoes. I've only run 7 miles at most in them so far, so I didn't want to push it too much. I'll probably do the whole run in them next week.
Tom and another guy started a little earlier than the main group. Dave started ahead of Flo and I, but we quickly passed him on the sidewalk. It was a nice and comfortable pace at that point. It actually felt slow now that I had on my lighter shoes.
This time when we got to the free bridge, we ran over to New Jersey. I guess Flo thought I had a plan for running over there. I didn't have one. I just wanted to say that I ran in two states during the same run. We went along the river for a short while before it came to a dead end at a business. We then came back over the bridge and along Larry Holmes Drive. Since we were the only ones that went over the river, we were now behind everyone else.
We then ran back over the Lehigh River and on to the canal path again. It was a nice scenic run. We passed by a family who was fishing under one of the bridges. They must've thought we were crazy as over 20 runners went past. For whatever reason, my legs didn't feel as strong once we hit this paved path. I never could figure out why.
Flo was starting to struggle around this time. Eventually, she stopped to stretch her calves and told me to keep going. Since I was half a mile ahead of her in distance that I had run, I just turned around a half mile early. She then met up with me.
We ran together for awhile. We were now in the final 3 miles. She didn't seem too strong. Since we weren't talking too much at this point anyway, I decided to go ahead a little and hoped to pull her along. I laid down a 7:41 mile. It didn't even seem too difficult this late in the run.
One problem I encountered with a few miles to go was that my nipples began to chafe. I put some cream on beforehand, but that didn't help. My singlet was still drenched and rubbing. It was crazy too because the temperature was still low. I was wearing spandex shorts, so I didn't want to take my shirt off unless I had to. I didn't want to run through downtown Easton in spandex without a shirt and with high compression socks. That would not have been a pretty sight. I decided just to deal with it.
After we got off the canal path, I pulled away from Flo a little more. I didn't want to go too hard and lose her completely. I was particularly worried because she almost got sick during last week's run and had to walk some. I kept turning back to make sure she was still there.
I grew quite concerned as we made it back onto the sidewalk north of Easton. I went around a curve and didn't see her at all. Then she popped out around the corner. I kept pushing fairly hard as I was nearing the finish.
Before I knew it, Flo was coming back on me. I was surprised because I was quite far ahead of her at one point and I was already laying down a pretty quick final mile. It didn't take her too long and she went by me with less than a quarter mile to go. That was great because I paced off her to the finish. I needed that after pacing her for most of the run. I know she's strong and the earlier part of the run where she fell back surprised me. Her blowing pace me at the end sort of did, but at the same it also didn't.
After the blistering finish, including a 7:19 mile, the pace dropped to 8:05 overall. That is kind of crazy because 7:19 was around my pace for the final mile at the 5k two weeks ago. Now, I did that after already running 11 miles. I am surely getting much stronger. I feel that if this were a race, I could probably run around a 7:30 pace right now. Maybe my 7 minute half marathon pace is realistic for two months down the road.
It is about two and a half months until that half marathon and I'm already only a mile short of that distance. My long runs will be well over half marathon distance. I have never done that before. That should make the half marathon feel like cake. I guess we shall see. I'm also excited because I am already at 40 miles for the week. That was my peak mileage for my first marathon. I'll be flirting with 60 miles per week by the end of this training plan.
This was a great group run again and a great week. Faster runners really help to pull me along. For next week's long run, I'm backing off to 8 miles. I should be able to run that quite hard. When I get back to 13 miles for my long run in a couple weeks, I'm hoping to do it well under 8 minute pace.
Tomorrow will be one of those rare days off. I've run 16 of the 18 days thus far this month. My body definitely needs to break. I don't quite have a plan for Monday. I'm leaning toward some hill repeats. I need to get to the hills a bit more often. The mileage throughout the whole week will be slightly shorter, with exception of my midweek speedwork. Kelley will be back from vacation and we will run that together. I'm thrilled with my progress and can't wait to do more.
1:37:05 - 12.01 miles (8:05 pace)
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