I was a little sore in the morning, but felt pretty good by the afternoon. My body is adapting well to long runs I guess. Since I didn't want to go far, I decided to check out the new Bushkill Township Trail. It was supposed to officially open on Friday, but rain postponed that.
The trail runs from Jacobsburg State Park to Route 512. The paper said it was 3 miles long, but I found out that it doesn't go out that far. I just parked in the small lot off of Belfast Road on the north end of Jacobsburg. The Bushill Township Trail starts directly across the street. Before I saw it in the paper over the weekend, I didn't even realize that there was such a trail being constructed. I have been in that area, so I'm kind of surprised that I never noticed any of that.
It was pretty hot and humid. The temperature was near 70 degrees. Of course there was the usual wind, but today that actually made it nice. It was also cloudy. I brought my GoPro camera along to take some photos. That combined with my hat made my head quite hot.I started off at a nice and comfortable pace. The start of the route is still in the park I guess or at least it is still a nice, wooded area. The creek runs under the trail at one point and along the side for awhile. It is nice and peaceful as the trail winds in and out. It isn't exactly flat or straight. It goes in and out and up and down. All the hills are small though.
The first mile was a nice and slow 8:56. My legs felt pretty good. There was some soreness in the calf area as usual, but nothing too bad. I took some decent pictures early on, but then my battery died. The only good thing about that was that I could take off the camera and my hat and let my head breathe.
After leaving the wooded area, things do get kind of boring. There are just a lot of fields or stretches of nothing. A small powerline goes through there, but that isn't much to look at. I did spot a hill past some weeds. It could be good for hill repeats. Eventually, I came to a road crossing and a house with a cool pond along side of it.
After the road crossing, it was more of nothing. This certainly isn't much of a scenic trail. It is a decent stone path and fairly close to me, so I'm sure I'll be there quite often. I just wish it was longer.
Before I knew it, I was at the north end of the trail at Route 512. When I looked down at my watch, I was disappointed to see that it was only 2 miles. It was pretty much exactly 2 miles in fact. If it was closer to 3 miles, that would be much better for my easy runs.
Today, I wasn't too disappointed that it was only 2 miles, since I wasn't feeling strong and this was only a recovery run. I headed on back and figured that when I arrived at the start, I would add another mile in Jacobsburg.
I had the path all to myself, but apparently I wasn't the only one using it. There are signs at all the entry points that say no horses, but someone has already been ruining it with their horses. There was manure left on the trail, but worse than that, the hooves were already tearing up the trail. It wasn't designed for heavy horses. Why can't people just follow the rules of the trail?
After that slow first mile, the remaining miles were under 8:20 each. It seemed like the trail was uphill going out, but it didn't feel any easier coming back. Regardless, I kept a steady pace. Before I knew it, I was back at the parking lot.
I ran in Jacobsburg for a bit. The Sober's Run Trail is kind of a continuation of this powerline and old railroad bed. I went out on it for .75 miles and then turned around. It was getting quite hot now. At least it didn't rain. I finished up and walked a little. After I was done, I saw 2 guys go over and use the Bushkill Township Trail to run. It was good to see others using it correctly.After dinner, I headed out for a short bike ride. I just went through the neighborhood by my house. It was meant to just be a nice and easy recovery workout. I still struggled some with the rolling hills. Before I hit those hills, I thought about running again later on. Eventually, I was pretty beat up and regretting the idea that I would run later. My quads were working a little extra.
When I was watching the news today, I saw they had a run at 9 PM in New Jersey to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. I couldn't go that far, so I decided that I would do a second run at that time.
My friend April came up with the idea to run 2.62 miles to honor everyone. Obviously doing 26.2 would be hard. I thought that that was a cool idea, so I copied that distance for this evening. I headed out to the Saucon Rail Trail just before 9 PM.
I took it easy and went nice and slow. It was so slow that I almost felt like I was walking. I barely picked up my legs. I wanted to make sure the run was just an easy recovery run. It was a beautiful night. I could even feel the cool air coming off the creek water.
Since I was running slow, every half mile did seem like it took forever. I didn't mind too much, because I was in no hurry. I just enjoyed the evening. I noticed that one of the road crossings was lighting up again to alert traffic. I think it might always do that though because I was so far away from it.
The first mile was 10:44, but I couldn't help but go faster after that. I took it easy, but was down to 9:46 for the second mile. It was good to turn around and head back.
On the way back, I noticed a light along the creek. I think it was a headlamp and someone fishing in the dark. I guess I'm not the only crazy one doing my activity after dark.
Not much happened on this run, but I did have one interesting moment. The trail is fairly well lit, so you can sort of see objects. I noticed something near my feet, but it didn't move until the last minute. It was a bunny. The funny thing though was after that one scattered two more ran near me too. It was near a compost pile, so I'd imagine they like that area and are very active there. It was kind of startling at first, but fine afterward.
After a couple road crossings, I was finished. It was pretty amazing because when I clicked the watch off, my time was 26:23. That's very close to 26.2. I couldn't see the watch often in the dark, so that certainly wasn't planned. What a neat sign.
My legs, particularly my quads, are a bit sore now. It was definitely a tough day. They need some rest. I might try to setup a massage some time too. The legs could definitely use it.
I have a hard 800 repeat session to do tomorrow afternoon. If I'm feeling good, I might go for another easy bike ride before work. It probably wouldn't hurt to rest a little more. I have to walk that fine line of working hard, but also staying healthy. It is a tricky balance.
Run 5 miles - 41:54 (8:23 pace)
Bike 7 miles - 33:01 (4:43 pace)
Run 2.62 miles - 26:33 (10:04 pace)
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