Yesterday was an off day due to the Indy 500. Last night and this morning, we made the long drive back from Indianapolis. My friend Bill had a pool party today, but I was too exhausted to go, so I slept this afternoon. I was about ready to run around dinner time, but my family wanted to go out to eat. We grabbed some pizza, so I had to wait a couple hours to run.
I also slacked off a little and didn't get around to running until about 8:30. The plan was an easy 5 miler. I figured I'd start off in some light and then it would get dark. I don't look forward to short, easy runs like this. They just seem pointless. I should try to find some ways to enjoy them.
That said, this run was actually great. After the 17 miles on Saturday, I was thinking that my body would be beat up today. That wasn't the case at all. I went to the Nor-Bath Trail and took off right away. I actually began running kind of gingerly because I was anticipating some tight quads or something like that. Instead, my legs felt pretty good (as good as they are going to feel anyway).
It wasn't hot today anyway, but the weather was perfect when the sun went down. I wish I could run summer races in these conditions. A summer nighttime marathon would be great. I just had on shorts and a short sleeve shirt. The shirt was bright yellow, since it would be getting dark.
I was most worried about crossing Airport Road. That wasn't too bad though. I had to wait for 2 cars, but I was able to cruise along shortly after that. It wasn't dark yet, but it was too dark to consistently look at my watch. That meant the distance just flew by.
The first mile was a 9:27. I don't need to go that slow, but going slower on recovery days would definitely help. Running 9 minute miles would be much better.
I saw something in the field next to the trail. At first, I thought it might be a large animal. It didn't move though, so I guess it was just a rogue bush. It seemed kind of weird out there. A bunch of rabbits ran across the trail throughout the run. Some of them continued up the trail for awhile and I ended up chasing them.
I got to Bicentennial Park and there were still a few cars in the parking lot. I probably should watch when running around there after dark. It seems like a teen hangout place. I got past the park and around mile 2, it was very dark. There are a lot of trees in this area and plenty of cover.
Just before mile 2.5, was the next road crossing. There were no cars, so I ran over it and continued on. I ran over 2 pedestrian bridges and headed back at mile 2.75.
Coming back over the crossing was clear again. I cruised along and hit mile 3. All of these miles were over 9 minutes.
When I checked out my watch before the run, it had 28% battery life. I thought it would last, but I guess lighting it up at night eats up a lot of the battery. It beeped several times. Then, I went to look at it right before mile 4 and it shut off. It really sucked because I thought it would record the mileage up until it shut off. Instead, it went only to the last fully completed mile.
Even though I didn't have the remainder of the run being recorded, I still wanted to run to 5 miles. I knew that that would be right past the Airport Road crossing. It was lonely and dark until that point. Sometimes, I would see a dark spot on the ground and think it was an animal. It was usually just darker grass or a plant. Even when I saw a bench, I thought at first that it was an animal. It was quite dark by now.
I finished up past Airport Road and walked to cool down. It was good to have felt so strong during a run. Maybe my legs can feel this good throughout the summer. That would be nice.
Although I'm running well, one very frustrating thing is my weight. When I first started running, I worked so hard to drop weight. I went from 180 pounds down to 140. Then I got sick and dropped even more weight. I was as low as 110. Now, my Crohn's is pretty well under control and I'm ballooning up. It is very frustrating to be working so hard, but gaining so much weight. Around this time last year, I don't think I was even 140 pounds, now I'm up over 170.
I definitely need to eat better, but I think my Crohn's medication is playing a part. I wish I could just work harder and burn more calories, but I guess I'll really have to watch more closely what I eat if I want to lose weight. I don't have a problem eating healthy, my problem is that I hate to cook and don't really know what a good nutrition plan is. I don't mind working hard when running, but I hate having to do work to eat too. I guess that is what I'll need to do though. I wish I could eat a normal diet and that would be considered healthy. Food in this country is so terrible though.
I'd rather be overweight then underweight with all my Crohn's problems, but I definitely need to get this situation under control. I'm actually amazed with the fast times I can run now and it makes me wonder how much better I could be running if I was 20-25 pounds lighter. I feel so heavy when I run too.
Tomorrow, will be a challenging run. I'm thinking that I'll run a tempo run. I'm hoping for 4 or 5 difficult miles between a warm up and cool down. I'll likely run on the Saucon Rail Trail. It is supposed to be hot this week, so I'll have to check out the weather first.
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