I'm pacing the Runner's World Half Marathon and running the 10k race there the day before. Although I know Bethlehem quite well, I haven't run much on the course, if at all. I needed an 8 mile easy run today and thought that I would try running part of the half marathon course.
I looked at the map and decided that I would start at Goepp Street and Main Street. The course goes relatively close to there at another point as well. It looked like it would probably be about 7 or 8 miles.
I studied the map quite extensively before leavingt. I didn't want to carry directions with me. It was tough because there sure are a lot of turns on the course. I'm glad I know the area quite well.
It was another cold day today. I could've went with short sleeves again, but since I was going easy, I decided on a light long sleeve technical shirt. That turned out to be a fairly good choice. I was actually still sweating quite a bit.
I started off on Goepp and went through an industrial section. Not a pretty way to start the run, but it isn't the race's start. It was downhill which was great for my stiff quads. There wasn't much of a shoulder on the road in this section, so a few trucks had to move out of the way for me.
After a short while, the route goes onto to Schoenersville Road. This was the first uphill of the run for me. It isn't long, but I wasn't feeling great, so it was a bit tough. I started on the sidewalk on the left side of traffic, but crossed over at the stoplight. When I was on Schoenersville, I ran on the wrong side of the road around some baseball fields. I didn't want to take longer routes just to be on the correct side of the road. I managed to run 1.45 miles before looking at my watch. I was quite proud of that.
I turned onto Illick's Mill Road and then had sidewalk to run on. Although I hate running on it, I spent quite a bit of time on the sidewalk. This section is where the Bethlehem High Schools have their cross country meets. I still can't believe they run on sidewalk with spikes. It is a nice downhill early on this portion of the road.
At the end of Illick's Mill Road is a short, but steep uphill. My legs felt so dead going up it. I guess I was quite beat up from yesterday. I certainly wasn't pushing today. Near the top of the hill, I made a left into a neighborhood. There are some nice houses back there. Looking at the map afterward, I realized that I didn't run far enough in the neighborhood. I got an idea of the general area though.
I then crossed over onto Center Street briefly before heading onto Dewberry Avenue. This goes past Bethlehem Catholic High School. That is where my mom went to school. It was tough because I was back on sidewalks and also it was a long, gradual uphill. None of these hills would've been a big deal if I was feeling good, but I wasn't. I hit mile 3 and couldn't believe that I still had 5 miles to go.
I crossed over Linden Street at a light and was again back into a neighborhood. I'm glad I hit the lights pretty well throughout this run. It was only short stops here and there. I ended up taking the right road, but I didn't think I did, so I turned off of it. I came out on a parallel road. Again, I was close enough to the actual route.
I was onto Washington Street next and back to the sidewalks. I thought this was the right way, but I couldn't confirm it until I was back at home and looked at that map. This is a long stretch that is relatively flat. I then turned back onto Main Street. I went through Moravian College. That is a nice campus and will be good to run through for the race. I didn't see any students around. That seemed odd. Perhaps they are having a fall break.
I was feeling great through this section. I was done with most of the hills. It took awhile, but from mile 5 on, my legs started feeling a lot better. They finally came around.
I thought I turned left onto Fairview and I was correct. This was a nice downhill at first, but then there was a slight climb again at the baseball field. This might hurt some people late in the race. At this point, I didn't actually know where the course went. I turned down New Street anyway.
New Street is a fairly busy area, so I had to make sure to stay on the sidewalks. I knew that the course went back down to the Fahy Bridge, so I decided to continue onto New Street and run back there. It turns out that the course actually makes a left onto Market Street and then comes back and a little later another block down. I cut off about a mile of the course. If I knew the course went there, I'm not sure I would've changed things anyway. I was in the final mile or so of the run.
I got to the Fahy Bridge and instead of going on it toward the finish, I continued back to toward the start. I thought about going up to Main Street, like the race does, but I wasn't crazy about the short hill or the gradual climb that is Main Street. I might have to plan to be a little slower on these early hills when I do the pacing. The other reason I didn't want to go up Main Street is because it is usually busy. With how cold it is, I'm not sure that there would've been many people eating outside or even shopping downtown. With all the history here and the shops, this will be a cool little place to run through early in the race.
Instead of running down Main Street, I went through the historic area that is a big part of Musikfest. It is weird to see all this parking lot and festival area being so empty. It is kind of a shame that they don't do more with it. It does make for a great space for Musikfest though. It was a nice and flat run along the creek. There was a guy fishing and a couple walking. I finished up my run near the end of the festival area, by an old folks home. It was on some nice crushed stone. I was a short walk from my car.
I'm glad I did this preview run. Even though I kind of know the area, it is good to get a feel for it running. I didn't run the start at Bethlehem Steel or through Lehigh. I might do that later in the week. I did come through most of the course. I was also impressed that I didn't take too many wrong turns. It isn't an easy course to follow. With all the turns, I don't think I can rely on my GPS being too accurate on race day. I will probably add a couple extra tenths of a mile running. Pacing is definitely going to be a little tricky. It should be fun though.
Hopefully I'll recover okay by tomorrow. I'm going to be walking around a cross country meet shortly. Maybe that will aid my recovery. I felt quite beat up after this run. Even more so than usual. I think the combination of road and sidewalk bothered me. It was a lot of uneven running on hard surfaces. I am definitely more used to softer stone trails.
As long as I feel okay, I'll be doing speedwork tomorrow. The plan is for mile repeats. I'm going to try to make sure I do it when the weather is cool. I might not worry so much about pace this time and may run more on effort. I really need to get 6 or 7 reps in, even if they aren't under a 7 minute pace. I just need to be consistent and have solid reps. I look forward to the run. It will likely be on the D&L Trail again.
8 miles - 1:07:03 (8:23 pace)
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