Things have seemed to work out perfectly for me lately with the Thursday night group runs. The last few weeks, I have done them as a second run of the day. That was also after a hard run on Wednesday. Thankfully no one fast showed up on those days and I got to run easy. I wouldn't have been able to handle much more.
This week, I did my double run yesterday and had almost 24 hours of rest. I also haven't run hard since Monday. Although I'm still quite sore, I was in much better condition today than I have been lately. I was capable of running hard.
At first, it only looked like Akshay and I would be running. It is a good thing that we usually wait around until about 10 minutes after 6 PM. Tim rolled in a few minutes after 6. He's in charge of all the group runs and is the Sunday Group Run Leader. He also runs quite fast. In the 5k a month ago, he finished a few spots ahead of me. Probably no more than 15 seconds.
I was pleased to have someone fast to run with and I knew we would push it a little. The run started off comfortable. The three of us chatted about various things, including the group runs. The first mile felt somewhat easy and it was a solid 8:02. Akshay stayed just behind Tim and I, but must've fell off at some point. I'm not sure when that happened.
We ran towards the Fish Hatchery first this time. That got most of the hills out of the way early. The big hill came before the second mile was complete. I hate spending too much time on the hills, so I really pushed to get up it. Tim dropped back a bit. I also like to open up and fly downhill too, so I got farther ahead of Tim on the way down. I cruised by two slower runners. Even with the climb, the second mile was 8 minutes flat.
This certainly wasn't a race, so I began to slow. I looked back and couldn't even see Tim. I continued to slow for awhile. I thought that maybe he dropped back and ran with Akshay. If he did that, I would've just taken off.
Eventually Tim caught back up to me. He told me that he was going to fall back to Akshay, but couldn't find him. Tim and I continued on running together and chatting. We didn't talk quite as much since the pace was brisk.
We had some fun running around dogs in this run. Early on, Tim went to the right side of an unleashed dog and Akshay and I ran along its left side. It was so confused. Later on, we passed a small dog that was running ahead of two people who were walking. I knew that it wouldn't be able to run under 8 minute pace with its little legs, so I wasn't worried that it would follow us.
Tim and I went hard up the short hill by the Robin Hood Bridge. Then I asked him if he wanted to go farther out on the trail. I don't usually run that way since the main road has been closed after a retaining wall was found to have structural problems. We kept going out that way.
We were discussing speedwork. Tim brought up doing fartleks and I said those are great, except that I run them too hard and don't realize that until I'm done. A faster pace works the muscles differently, even if it for a shorter period of time.
As we got near the main road, we had to get off the path and run up a grass hill. This was so tough. A hill this late was bad enough. The grass threw everything off even more. It took some hard work, but we got up it. We were now in the final mile.
Coming down the hill on the main road was great. I went ahead of Tim and since I was feeling good, I just took off. He didn't stay with me. I figured that I would just run until mile 6 and then get some walking done as a cool down.
It was nearly dark when I pushed it through the last mile. It felt great to go so fast so late in a hard run. I finished up at mile 6 and began walking. I had less than a quarter mile walk back to the car. Tim passed me and finishing run when he got to his truck.
Although I am very sore now, this was a great run. I wanted to go a bit hard today and I am grateful that Tim was there to provide a good running partner. The cool weather was great too. It was actually so cool that I wore my arm sleeves. Maybe I didn't need them after the first mile, but they worked well.
Tomorrow it is back to easy running. I'm going to the old Bethlehem Steel and will run the Runner's World 10k course. It will be good prep for the race next week. It will also put me up to 42 miles for the week, with my long run still to go. I look forward to a good final two days of my toughest week.
6 miles - 46:12 (7:42 pace)
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