I realized that after a hard day yesterday, it wasn't wise to bike in the morning and running at Trexler (even a short distance), would be counterproductive. I opted instead to run later in the day. Originally, I headed out to Jacobsburg in the late afternoon. I didn't have much time to get in the 6 miles or so that I wanted to run before dinner. As I was driving around the area, I saw a bunch of horses. I didn't want to have to deal with running around them, so I headed home.
It is great that we finally have good weather. Today, it was over 80 degrees. I think they said that Philly had a record high. The thing I don't like is all the people that suddenly come out of the woodwork. One nice thing about winter running is that I usually have things all to myself.
I had a LVRR Group Run Meeting after dinner, so I had to get the run done after that. That is no problem for me. I love nighttime runs. Someone at the meeting asked me if I was worried about running in the dark. It doesn't bother me at all, especially where I planned on going. I headed out to the Saucon Rail Trail and parked on the street near the Water Street Park.
This is one of the best places to run at night. It starts at a fairly populated area that is well lit, for a trail anyway. It then goes by a lot of fancy million dollar homes. It can't get much safer than that. I started off just before 9 PM.
I was also glad to be running at this time because it was certainly much cooler. It was perfect. Earlier in the day was kind of annoying with both the heat and some wind. Now, there was just a nice and cool breeze.
I headed south as I always do. I was amazed at how great I felt in the beginning. My one hamstring was a bit sore, but other than that, I couldn't have felt better. I thought I would be beat up after a long run and bike ride yesterday. Maybe wearing compression sleeves all day helped. Maybe the bike ride was an excellent recovery tool. Whatever the case, I felt great.
I just cruised along. This path is great not only because it is lit, but the stones they use are lightly colored. You can easily see the trail, even in the dark. I didn't pack my headlamp with me. I wish I had.
I felt like I was flying, but my times did say otherwise. Still, I didn't actually care about my pace. Going out was harder anyway. I just enjoyed the peacefulness of the run. At times, I ran along the creek and could hear the water. Last time I ran here at night, I did encounter another runner. Tonight, I was all alone for the duration of the workout. That allowed me plenty of time to be with my thoughts.
Even though I run here a lot, some of the order of where everything is still does confuse me a little. It is kind of surprising. The road crossings here aren't too bad, so I managed to get over them without a problem. At one point, I thought I came close to stepping on something. It was either a cat that didn't move, another animal playing dead, maybe a dead animal or just something else. Either way, it didn't budge.
Most of the time, I just heard my watch click as I reached another mile. I had to light it up to see where I was, so I didn't do that too often. That sure made the run fly by. Before I knew it, I was into Upper Saucon Township and on different stone. That was the 2 mile point.
It was neat looking at a lot of the houses. Most of the fancy ones have big decks and huge windows on the back. There is one house that has landscaping signs. I have seen it before. At night, the yard was all lit up and they even had Christmas Lights on one tree. That was cool.
As I approached mile 3, I crossed over one of the roads. I noticed that there was a flashing light on the road to alert cars of a person approaching the crossing. The car I was near just ignored it. This setup was cool because I never saw these before. They aren't as noticeable in the daytime.
I got to mile 3 and was still feeling great. I figured I could handle another half mile. I did just that. I thought about going out to 4 miles, but 3.5 miles was enough. I turned around just past that point. I would be running 7 miles now.
I cruised along on the way back. I was still feeling good, but became a little more sore as I went along. I tried to just focus on getting to the one road crossing. I knew whenever I got there it would be mile 5.5. This is more of a bike crossing than a road.
I crossed both roads that had warning lights. These would probably be better served on the two crossings in downtown Hellertown, but there is nothing there. Maybe they would become too annoying.
I heard a dog bark at one point, but luckily it was far away. Getting back to the lights of Hellertown within the last mile was good. Most of my miles were around an 8:10 pace. Two of them were under 8 minutes. It was a nice and fast finish thanks to the downhill of the trail.
I finished up and walked around a little. My legs were mildly sore. It was a great run. My body just loves late day runs. I guess because I am loosened up at that point. I guess I was meant to run at night. When I start running double sessions, I'll probably do this more often.
Tomorrow is a busy day. I'm not sure if I'm working or not, but afterward, I plan on heading to Pocono Raceway. They are having a free IndyCar test session. That should be fun. Hopefully I don't arrive too late. Somehow I'll squeeze in a run too. It will likely occur up there and after the test. I would like to do some speedwork, but we will see what happens. I don't know how long the test will be. I may have to run in the dark again.
7 miles - 57:48 (8:16 pace)
No comments:
Post a Comment