After yesterday's 18 miler, I wasn't about to do anything speedy or run Trexler. I decided I would take it a little easier. Originally, I was thinking about doing a double, but then I was still sore from yesterday. I decided instead to join the group run at the Emmaus Run Inn (formerly the Finish Line).
I saw Chris, the owner of the store, at the St. Luke's expo. I haven't seen the new store since they moved and changed names. I figured going to the group run would be a good way to check it out. It's really nice. It's a lot more spacious than the old store.
I used to frequent this run often, but it is quite far for me to go. I don't get there often anymore. I was hoping Maura would be leading the run, but she wasn't feeling well. Instead, Frank from the store, was the leader. I've actually never met him before, but knew he was fast. Elissa from the store and Kevin were also running. They were there with their jogging stroller and 8 month old. I know the two of them, but I didn't know anyone else there.
There were 9 of us, including me and the store employees. I wish my Thursday group runs would do this well. It seemed like it would be a speedy group run, because there were a lot of younger folks. It was speedier than most, but was quite an easy and comfortable pace. I remember sometimes these group runs here would kill me at this pace. I'm just so fit now. It is a great feeling.
Early on, some of the group ran out in front of a car. I waited, so I had no issue. That's one thing I don't like about running on streets. We ran out to a park nearby. I've run there before. It has a nice stone trail that you can run around. It is just under a mile long. I've gone out and back to there, but today we did a little more than that.
As usual, it was good chatting and the miles flew by. Frank is going to run Quadzilla and VIA, both races I'll be doing. He's much faster than me though and could potentially win both of them. It was good talking about those and training. One you lady, whose name I didn't get, is training for a full marathon and just ran a 1:35 at St. Luke's. That's pretty solid and right around where I'm likely at at the moment.
After the park, the young lady and I were leading the way, but we sort of had to wait for the others because we really didn't know where we were going. At one point, we had quite the wait at a light. That slowed us down, but the pace was quicker than it had been. We ran some solid miles around 8:15. That's certainly easy for me.
We were going all through town. I had no idea where we were until we arrived at Lehigh Street. Then, we had about a mile to the store. It was slightly uphill. As Frank and I were out front, one of the other guys decided it would be funny to pick up the pace and make Frank run faster. That was fine with me since the pace was kind of slow. It was a good quick pickup segment. That got mile 5 to be 8:03.
Everyone else stopped at the store, but I wanted a couple additional miles. We were just under 5 miles at that point. I wanted to get in 7 total. I continued out through town. I'm good with direction, but I had no idea where I was running. I don't know the roads of Emmaus at all. I thought I'd go out and back. However, I ended at a busy road and just started doing a loop. There was some downhill around mile 6. I ran another 8:03.
In the final mile, I came out to Lehigh Street. I was pretty far from the store though. I ran similar to where we did earlier, but I think I was another block over. The last mile had a lot of uphill and my legs started losing it. I was glad I was almost done. I sputtered along and finished up near the store.
After 18 miles yesterday, 7 miles today was a little tough. Still, my legs are starting to get used to it and should recover. This was a good recovery run and just what I needed. I couldn't have handled a much faster pace than this. It was good meeting Frank and some of the other people and seeing Elissa, Kevin and their baby again.
Tomorrow is a faster day. Rather than my usual 800 repeats, I might try doing a tempo run. I need to work on holding a good pace for a few miles, not just short repeats. A tempo run really should give me a decent idea of where I'm at right now. I'd like to run about 8 miles total. Hopefully the weather is as nice as it was today.
7 miles - 58:30 (8:22 pace)
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