Tonight was the LVRR Thursday night group run. Since it is Valentine's Day, I didn't expect anyone to show up. I was very surprised to see three others join me. Even better was that two of them have been to the run before. The third runner was a friend of one of the other runners. I need more people to come back frequently.
It was warm out, so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised that people came. The temperature was in the upper 30s and it wasn't too windy. I just wore shorts and a lightweight top. It was definitely adequate. I was comfortable the whole run.
The two runners that came before were Jerry and Dana. Jerry ran with me last week and Dana came a couple weeks ago. She knew my friend Ingrid. Dana works in the Big Apple, but apparently now she's able to work from home on Thursdays for awhile and might become a regular.
Dana came with her friend Linda. They started off ahead of Jerry and I. We hung back and chatted. He ran the race that I was considering doing on Sunday and ran under 20 minutes. I was impressed. He fell behind me a little at the end of last week's run, so I'm wondering if I could break 20 minutes too. I haven't run fast in awhile.
This week, we headed up the hill towards Lehigh. When we had to wait at a light, Jerry and I pulled ahead of the women. We led out, but they weren't far behind. We discussed racing and training. I was telling him a lot about running trails and specifically Trexler.
As we got to Aardvark, one of the women had to go to the bathroom, so they told Jerry and I to go on. We cruised along. The pace wasn't too fast. It was much more comfortable that last week.
I moved this run to Bethlehem because I wanted more street lights. The problem is that when you get out away from town on Broad Street, the lights are dim. I usually lift my feet so I don't have a problem with the uneven sidewalk. Jerry tripped over a sidewalk and fell. Luckily it wasn't too bad.
We ran side by side up the Minsi Trail Bridge. It is weird because there is a fence on the river side. It feels kind of odd, like I might fall off the edge, even though that won't happen.
The time flew by. It often does on a group run. We were done before I knew it. As we were finishing, Dana and Linda came by in the other direction. Jerry and I stopped at SteelStacks. I rested for a minute and then decided that I would try to chase down the women. They were too far ahead though, so I only added another .25 miles to the run. I had 5 miles completed in total.
The women were very excited about the potential of the group run. I'm glad to hear that. Dana said they often do speedwork on Thursdays and suggested we could do some group speedwork in the future. That is fine with me. I'm up for whatever. Speedwork might even bring some new runners. It's great that we are having some returnees. Maybe the run will do well in the spring. It just needs a good start.
I'm trying to stay off of paved routes, so I would've skipped the BCR run on Saturday. However, I've been wanting them to run on the Ironton Rail Trail for a while. I have to get out there and join them. They were looking for a good winter place to run. It is a great path with a giant caboose and some cool signs. I love how the trail's railroad past is incorporated into it. I really look forward to the run. I was talking to Flo and she's coming. I might try to keep up with her for some time. I can't go too hard though.
5 miles - 42:46 (8:33 pace)
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