December Rain

Yesterday was supposed to be my regular LVRR Group Run.  It was cold and no one showed up, so I just skipped it.  I thought that maybe Noah, who was there last week, might show.  Otherwise, I figured I'd be alone.  Karl will come from time to time too, but he said he'd rather run in daylight and I sure don't blame him.

Originally, I thought about running alone on the D&L Trail from Sand Island.  That would reduce the pounding on my legs.  My parents were at my sister's house watching her cat while she is on vacation, so I just decided to go visit and run today instead.

A few days ago, the weatherman said that Thursday would be cold, but the rest of the 7 day forecast would be warm (for this time of year anyway).  That was Philly weather, but I still expected some decent weather here.  I guess I was wrong and as usual, the forecast was wrong.  It isn't quite cold enough to snow, so instead it is a lovely December rain.

There aren't many things I hate more than running in rain this late in the year.  It was 40 degrees, but being wet and cold isn't fun, so I knew I would overdress.  I went with a ColdGear top and jacket and tights on the bottom.  I probably should've just used a lighter shirt under the jacket.  I was hot by the end.

I decided that I would run on the Nor-Bath Trail since this was an easy 5 miler.  Instead of running at my usual locations of Jacksonville Park or Bicentennial Park, I decided to head farther out and go to the parking lot at Howertown Road.  I wanted a different perspective.

I thought the trail would provide a softer surface to protect my sore quads.  I figured the rain would make things softer as well.  I was right.  However, I didn't anticipate how much of a mess the trail would be.  It didn't think it had rained that much.

When I started off, it was a steady rain.  I wore a hat that I brought, along with gloves.  I only had very mild soreness in the beginning.  I had to spend a lot of time dancing through puddles.  Not too far into the run, I went right through one and got my foot soaked.  That was cold.  Thankfully, I avoided puddles the rest of the run.

Until the first road crossing, it was slow and I felt like I was running through mud.  To an extent I was.  I do sort of enjoy running in tough conditions like this just because of the mental challenge.  I would've probably been a good cross country runner.

Getting over the first road was a big relief.  For whatever reason, the trail was in much better shape here with much less standing water.  I still had to avoid a lot of puddles though.  At least I could run in the middle and didn't have to go onto the grass.

It was nice seeing familiar sights, while running the route a different way than usual.  I was running nice and easy and I was actually surprised with how fast my pace was.  The second mile was at 8:32 and every mile after that was even faster.

It wasn't too long before I was at Bicentennial Park.  I was getting quite hot at this time.  I took off my gloves and thought about taking off the jacket too.  Instead, I just opened it up.  I turned around not too far after the main path to Bicentennial Park.  It was great to be going down the home stretch.

I took my jacket off for awhile, but put it back on soon.  Coming back is a slight downhill and I felt great at this point and thought I was really moving.  My pace indicated that too.  I was enjoying the run even more.  I just focused on moving forward.  I concentrated on getting to mile 4.  I like to avoid looking at my watch in the first half of the run, but I look at it more frequently as I get closer to the finish.

I crossed back over the road.  I almost slipped going around the gate.  I opted to just jump over the next gate.  Now I was back to running through the slop.  Even with that, I still put in a fast final mile under 8 minutes. 

I passed a couple walking together.  They were the only people I saw throughout the run.  It is days like this where you find out who is out there and thus dedicated.  That is always me.  If there ever was a time that I'd run inside, it would be a rainy winter day.  That still will never happen though.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a 10 mile run.  The BCR group is running on the hard Plainfield Recreation Trail.  Flo won't be there and I wanted a softer surface, so I'm likely going to join a group running at Trexler Nature Preserve.  They are doing a loop or two.  One loop is 8.4 miles, so I'd probably add a short out and back to that.  I haven't run there much since Quadzilla and haven't run with this group since before Quadzilla.  I am curious as to whether I can handle the hills better now that I'm more fit.  My arch has bothered me on uphill trails the few times that I've run on them in the last few months, so I'm not sure how it will hold up.  Luckily, most of the hills are pretty short.  I'll still probably give it a try.  The weather could throw a curveball there too.  I'm not sure I want to run through sloppy conditions for 10 miles on a tough trail.

5 miles - 41:55 (8:23 pace)