As I figured would be the case, I didn't run the St. Luke's course with Shayne and her friends. I couldn't drag myself out of bed. It is much tougher for me to do that this time of year when it is so cold out. Since there was the IndyCar season opener today, I didn't get around to running until after 3 PM.
I thought about going to Cove Road again for the long run. Then, I changed my mine and decided to pick up the D&L Trail at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. The weather was excellent. I was finally looking forward to a long run. I debated whether to throw on a lightweight long sleeve shirt, but in the end, I ended up with short sleeves and shorts. That was a good decision.
I decided to head north this time. I usually go the other direction. I thought changing it up would be good. I planned on going out and back in both directions, but farther in the first direction. I was hoping that maybe I could get to the end of the trail. I wasn't sure how far away Lehighton was though. I was looking for 12 to 15 total miles.
The first mile was pretty good. There was a some cold air in that direction, but I can't say it was windy. I cruised along at a comfortable pace. Without wind, I didn't have to breath heavy for a change.
I love running in this area because it is beautiful. On the north side of the mountain, there is still a lot of snow. It made me realize that that is the same side of the mountain as nearby Blue Mountain Ski Area. Now, I see why.
The trail was nice and dry and comfortable. My legs were a little sore early on, but nothing too bad. The first mile was a slow 8:20. The next three were under 8 minutes. It was great to get to 2.5 miles, but it was hard to believe how far I had to go. A lot of people were out walking or biking and enjoying the decent weather.
Right around the 3 mile point, the trail kind of ends for a mile. You have to run on the road. The road did seem to beat up my legs some more. I considered turning around, but kept going. I really wanted to make sure I got at least 4 miles in before turning around.
When I got back to the trail in Bowmanstown, I was at the 4 mile point. I didn't want to turn around and run a mile back on the pavement yet, so I kept going. This wasn't bad, but as I approached mile 5, I was getting into some headwind. I just battled on.
I turned around at 5 miles and it was hard to believe that I was only around 1/3 of the way done with the run. Coming back was downhill, but for some reason my feet and legs really started bothering me. It was odd. I don't know if the stone they used in this section was a little different or what. Getting back onto the road actually became a relief.
The road wasn't great, but I knew things would get better when I was back on to the stone trail. That happened at 7 miles and it was a great change. It was hard to imagine that I still had 8 miles to run at that point. One of my problems is that other than my long runs, I don't run over 6 miles. I need my second longest runs of the week to at least start going to 7 or 8 miles. I get that far into the long run and I'm already hurting.
I knew I had to just keep plugging along and somehow I could make it. I kept breaking the run down. I just focused on getting to miles 8, then 9 and finally 10. Getting to mile 10 would be huge because I would be back to my car and could grab a drink. Being into the 2nd half of the run was huge.
As I was around 9.5 miles, I got a second wind of sorts. Some of that was due to the fact that I was nearing the car. I also think the trail was going slightly downhill. It was still hard to imagine that I had over 5 miles to run. Most of my miles were just over 8 minutes, but this 10th one dipped slightly under it at 7:59.
I got back to the car and grabbed some water. I parked in the nature center lot and had a slight uphill to run. I looped around the parking lot as I drank my water and then I threw the bottle back into the car.
I then headed south on the trail. I was hoping to go out 2.5 miles and come all the way back to finish. That didn't last though. They definitely built this section of the trail with a different type of stone. Suddenly, my legs were getting very sore. When I started this direction last time, the same thing happened. I'll have to be careful when I go this direction in the future.
I made it to around 11 miles and turned around. Again, I couldn't believe I still had 4 miles to go. I just focused on small increments. My time was slipping though. I was in the 8:20s for quite a few of these miles. I was now headed north and I wanted to make it to the half marathon point before turning around (13.1 miles).
I finally was turning around and heading back, but I still had almost 2 miles to go. I just focused on getting to mile 14. Eventually I did, but it seemed like it took forever. The last mile seemed like it went on and on as well. I was finally done though and relieved.
I couldn't believe how sore I was after the run. Last week, I ran 14 miles and felt good. That was on pavement too. I only added 1 mile this week, but I felt so beatup. The good thing is that my foot and calf, two areas that are normally a problem, aren't bothering me. It is just an overall general soreness. My lower back is quite sore.
After 5 straight days of running, I'm finally taking a day off. I would've actually preferred to take today off and run tomorrow. However, they are calling for 3-6 inches of snow. That's crazy. Hopefully it won't impact my Tuesday run in any way. I'm not even sure what I'll be doing or where I'll be running then.
15 miles - 2:02:10 (8:09 pace)
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