Cool Saturday Group Run

Today was my regular long run with the BCR.  The plan was for 15 miles.  I wanted to go to a high school cross country meet afterward, so I needed to get up very early.  I started off at 6 AM.  When I arrived at the Plainfield Recreation Trail, it was so dark that I almost missed the turn into the parking lot.

I didn’t sleep well at all again.  That is a pattern for these runs.  I can’t get to bed early and when I do go to bed, I stress out and can’t fall asleep.  I was going on less than 4 hours of sleep.  

I started off in the dark and cold.  I really couldn’t see the trail, but I knew that wasn’t going to last that long.  The only way I’d use a headlamp is if it was dark for over half an hour.  I was happy with the cold, but I probably should’ve worn more than a singlet.  I was almost too cold for most of the run.

Flo and another woman that I didn’t know started off a couple minutes before me.  I was a bit slow getting changed and started a little later than I wanted.  I had hoped to get 11 miles done before the main group, but instead I was only going to get 10.  That meant 5 miles with the group.

The weirdest thing happened as I started off.  My legs felt awesome from the get go.  That hasn’t occurred in a long time.  Usually they are stiff and take time to fire.  I would’ve thought that they’d be even stiffer in the cold.  I’m not sure what happened, but I felt great and cruised along.

This was such a pleasant run.  I enjoyed the cold and darkness and what helped even more was not looking at my watch.  I need to break the habit of checking it so often.  I didn’t look at it today until it read mile 2.38.  That was great and the distance flew by.  I looked at it more as I went along, but still not too frequently.

I knew I’d have trouble catching Flo if she was running alone, but I was surprised that her and her friend were able to stay so far ahead of me.  I think they had a good half mile on me.  I thought at some point I’d catch them or even Dave (who was starting out early too).  That never happened though.

The sun was rising on the way out and I passed a farm.  A rooster was calling from there.  That was an awesome way to start the morning and my run.  It doesn’t happen every day.

It felt good when I turned around at mile 5.  I think 4 miles out is the farthest I’ve ever run on this trail.  It was nice to have some new scenery.  On the way back, I felt like I might have to go to the bathroom.  I was very worried because I was about 4.5 miles from the parking lot and there are no bathrooms along the way.  Luckily, I never had to figure out what to do.

I kept cruising along and couldn’t believe my pace.  It was going down and down and closing in on last week’s pace.  I wasn’t putting anywhere near the effort in this week’s run.  Running alone allowed me to cruise more than I usually do when running in groups.  It is still hard to believe that 5 miles at 8:18 pace was hard in June and now under 8:10 for over 10 miles is easy.  

As I was running along, I heard a noise in the bushes.  I managed to see the white tail of a deer.  I thought to myself that there must be a lot of deer right along the trail that I never see.  At the next opening, I decided to look out and sure enough I saw two deer.  I wonder how many I must pass.

A couple of the women commented last week that they didn’t hear me come up from behind on them when I was passing.  It is good that I run quietly.  I guess running on stone helped too, since they could hear me this week.  I did have on heavier shoes as well.

I got back to the parking lot a little exhausted.  I took a drink and some brief rest.  I elected not to change shoes.  The main group was off before I knew it.

I ran with the fastest guy in the group, Mertz.  He took it easy on me, but kept the pace to my liking.  I felt good and cruised along.  We were both running 5 miles from this point.  We chatted and time seemed to fly by.  We were at the turnaround before I knew it.  It was good to have someone to run with for this portion of the run.

I started to fade at mile 13.25 and told Mertz to go on.  Just following behind him and keeping him in my sights was a big help.  It pulled me along as I struggled. I ran 14 miles last week and once I hit that point today, I really died.  For whatever reason, I did get a second wind in the last half mile and cruised in with a closing 7:43 mile.  The run combined for just over an 8 minute pace and it was very comfortable most of the time.  I am very happy.

After the run and cross country meet, I met with Angie and Stan.  They are running the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in Philly and I wanted to watch them and a bunch of other Philly and Lehigh Valley friends run, so I got a ride down with them.  I went to the expo too and it was a good time.  I saw a friend, Karen and we chatted for quite a while.  It was good to catch up.  I also bumped into Tom from the BCR.

I’m glad I had a good run and I think these over distance runs will really pay off.  After a lot of walking, my legs are quite sore today.  I have plenty of rest until my next run.  Tomorrow, I’m taking off as always.  On Monday, I’m having a colonoscopy.  I’m obviously not running then, but hopefully will resume training on Tuesday.  I’m sure my body will thank me for the rest.

15 miles – 2:00:36 (8:03 pace)

Deer Tracker: 3 Today (4 Total)