D&L Trail Bowanstown

I get so tired of running at the same places over and over again, especially when they are flat rail trails.  When I was thinking about where to run, I remembered that I haven't run the D&L Trail north of the Lehigh Gap before.  I thought this could be a good option to get my easy 5 miler in.

After some chilly days over the weekend, the weather was great today.  It was so warm that I could wear short sleeves and shorts.  It did get a little chilly as the sun set behind the mountain, but overall it was still great. Definitely not typical December weather.

I was tempted to try running up the Winter Trail on the east side of Lehigh Gap.  Then I realized that after eating a few hot dogs a couple hours earlier, it probably wasn't a good idea.  I opted instead to go to the D&L Trail at Bowmanstown and head north.  I knew about this section because we got stone from there when I was helping repair the course for the D&L Marathon.

The insole that I have been putting in my shoe has been curling up, so I tried duct taping it down.  That sort of worked.  It took pressure off the sore part of my foot, but it started bothering another part of my foot at the edge of the insole.  I could feel that early on.  It went away, but it definitely bothered me after I stopped running.

The quads weren't too bad, but there was some minor soreness in the left one.  Hopefully stretching, strengthening and massaging them will continue to help.  The surface of today's run was a blessing for them too.  It is small stones that is very soft, just like my old high school track.  It certainly reduced the pounding.  It recently rained too and I think that made the surface even softer.

The first mile felt nice and smooth.  I wasn't pushing and still laid down an 8:33 mile.  This part of the trail is lightly traveled and kind of desolate.  There is the river on one side and then a rock wall on the other side of the trail.  Even though it wasn't that interesting, I found it quite relaxing.  Maybe it was just because the scenery was all new to me.

Within the first mile, I did come across a guy walking his dog.  I only saw three people and three dogs in this 5 mile run though.  It was mostly just me alone with my thoughts.

A little after the first mile, I came to the turnpike bridge.  It is quite high overhead as it crosses the Lehigh River.  It has some big piers and looks spectacular.  They told me that when the workers put the bridge up, they agreed to build this section of trail too. 

The rest of the way out was kind of bland.  I felt good though, so I was still able to enjoy it.  I came by what looked like a water treatment plant.  There was no smell, so I guess it wasn't sewage.  That was around the 2 mile mark.  After that, the path turned into a lightly traveled road.  The second mile came in under an 8 minute pace.

I didn't like that I was now running on a hard, paved surface.  I didn't want to turn around until 2.5 miles though.  Then I saw a cute woman up ahead walking her dogs, so of course I couldn't turn around until I passed her.  I ended up going out to 2.75 miles before turning around.  I wasn't far from the town of Lehighton.

Coming back, I was happy to be back on the stone path.  It took awhile for my legs to readjust after running on the pavement, but they eventually came back around.  They were tiring a little as I approached mile 4.

These middle miles were easy and typically around an 8 minute pace.  When I got to the last mile, I decided to pick it up a little and finish strong.  I would say that I was probably running at a moderate effort.  After the turnpike bridge, it seemed like the trail was a gradual downhill.  I was moving now and the run was over before I knew it.  I put in a fairly quick 7:16 last mile.  It was a good way to finish.

After I was done, I was trying to figure out where to run my 5 hill sprints.  There was a sloped concrete drainage system and I almost considered running up it.  I decided that I would go over to Blue Mountain Drive and possibly run up that.  However, when I got there it was quite dark.  I decided it wasn't safe enough, so I passed on the hill sprints there.  The ski slope didn't look open yet, but there was snow on it.

I decided to just go home and eat supper.  After supper, I went to the Nazareth Boro Park to run the hill sprints.  It is perfect for that, with the steep hill and grass surface.  It is a good thing I brought my headlamp because I ended up having to dodge a couple branches that I guess must still be left over from the hurricane.  There were some tree trucks parked in the parking lot.  It looks like they are doing a lot of work there.

I want to run a 5k around February to see if I can get back under 20 minutes.  I thought that would be tough to find a race because there aren't very many winter 5ks.  As luck would have it, I found a 5k in Nazareth in February.  Even though the course probably won't be easy, it sounds perfect.

I'm still a little beat up, but all in all it was a great run today.  I do think that the extra rest is helping some.  Hopefully I'll feel better and better and can hit the marathon training head on in a month or so.  Tomorrow will be another off day before an easy 7 miler on Wednesday.  I might hike tomorrow since the weather will be nice again.  


5 miles - 39:48 (7:58 pace)