Today is the usual weekly run with the BCR. Earlier in the week, Flo asked if anyone would run with her on Saturday. She got a lot of responses. She was doing a 20 miler and the others were just planning on running shorter distances. They were going to meet her at 7 AM and she was starting at 6 AM.
I figured that I'd give her some company at 6 AM for the beginning of her run. I was excited to run a fairly fast pace too. I was hoping for 12 miles this week before my half marathon next week. Something in the range of 7:30-7:45 would be nice.
We started so early that it was nearly pitch black. We ran without headlamps though. I've done that before here on the Nor-Bath Trail, so it wasn't too big of a deal. We just needed to adjust our eyes.
It is late October, but it was surprisingly warm today. I ran with just a short sleeve shirt and shorts and I took my shirt off part way through the run. I guess I shouldn't say it was warm, but it was humid. Before the run, I knew I was dehydrated. I didn't drink enough overnight. That made this outing tough.
Flo and I cruised along. The first mile was slow by our standards. We couldn't go too fast anyway since we couldn't see the trail up ahead. Things picked up as it got lighter. We chatted about running and other things. That combined with the fact that I couldn't see my watch made time fly.
I was glad I could give her company and watch out for her. At one point, she almost ran into a gate at a road crossing. Before we turned around, she went into a parking lot rather than staying on the trail. Luckily, I run this trail a lot, so I know where I'm going, even in the dark.
With the humidity, the pace was a bit of a challenge early on. I was definitely struggling some with my breathing. Flo was having no trouble. With the fast pace, I was running up on my toes. My foot felt good when I did that. I had no issues there.
We went out to a road crossing about a quarter mile before hitting the 4 mile mark. That was a good start. We needed to get back in time for Flo to meet up with Mel and anyone else that showed up to run.
I didn't think I could run on my toes the whole time, so I ran more with a midfoot strike the mile or so before we turned around. That started to bother me. I could feel each impact. It isn't pain, but rather just some minor soreness. It does get annoying though.
After we turned around, I told Flo that I wasn't feeling great and she could take off. I don't know what it was, but even without the foot issue, I just didn't feel strong. Flo said she was fine with the pace. Before I knew it, she was long gone though. Later on, she said she felt great today.
When we ran a couple weeks ago, she was ahead of me, but I managed to hang on. I wasn't too far back of her then. The problem today was that once she was just a little bit ahead of me, I couldn't see her any more in the dark. At one point, I could see her watch light up way ahead.
With her gone, I backed off the pace. I ran over 8 minute miles for the rest of the run. I actually couldn't wait for the run to be over. Not so much because my foot was bothering me that much, but because I didn't feel as though I was accomplishing much. This run sort of ended up being like a reverse progression run. It was faster in the beginning and slower at the end.
I figured that when I got back to the start, I'd be around 7.5 miles. I like round numbers, so I decided that I would run 8 miles before quitting. Running the extra 4 miles wasn't going to accomplish anything. I'm already well trained for next week's race. Doing more is only going to hurt me, not help me.
When I returned to the start of the trail, I did a short out and back. I saw April starting her run as I was turning around. I passed them on my way back in. I also saw Flo, Mel and Angie starting up. I was glad just to be done.
The only problem with starting this early was that I had to wait around before breakfast. I chatted with the main group before they started up at 7:30. Then I walked on the trail for about 15 minutes. Without running, it was actually cold out and I didn't have a jacket. I went back to my car to get warm and then I got some more water too.
It wasn't too long before some people were back from there run. Then the whole group gathered. There were a lot of people that were either new or that I had never met before. It was fun to chat with them. That continued on to breakfast. We talked about a lot of things.
One of the interesting items was Dave's new run. It will be a 4.4 mile loop that begins each hour. You have to complete a loop within the hour and then you run another one the next hour. This keeps going until everyone quits. It sounds like fun, but it also sounds like something I might get myself hurt doing. I don't know if I want to participate or not. When I do things like this, I do them all or nothing. We'll see what happens between now and early December.
I'm definitely not happy with my foot. I'll take even more rest this week. I need to try as much as I can to be 100% for the race. Otherwise, getting a PR will be tough. I'm not sure that I'll run more than twice this week. Better safe than sorry.
The good thing about my foot is that it isn't too painful at this point. I feel as though I could tune it out come race day. I just hope it is healed by then. I know I can run the 13.1 miles on it. It is just a matter of how fast I can go. I was hoping to run in my lightweight shoes. That is all that I've done my speedwork in. Those are also the shoes that I was wearing when I hurt myself. Therefore, I'm going to play it safe and wear my regular shoes. That may end up costing me a few seconds each mile.
Since I'm beat up, I really have no idea when I'm going to run next. I definitely want to get a few miles in this week. For sure, I'll lead the group run on Thursday evening. We have a hurricane coming through on Monday and Tuesday and running through that sounds like fun too. Maybe I'll be smart about it and pass on running those days.
8 miles - 1:04:22 (8:03 pace)
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