I headed down to Philly tonight for a Team Challenge fundraiser. My friend Lisa is running for Team Challenge in a couple months and since they help with Crohn's Disease, I figured that I should go there and support the cause.
Of course I can't take a trip anywhere without going for a run. Being my old stomping grounds, I just had to go to Wissahickon for a trail run. I love it there. Even with all the places to run around here, that is still right there near the top of my favorite places.
I always park at Valley Green and it is busy there. I love the true trails though and most people workout on the wide stone path. The last few times there, I started right on the trail next to the Valley Green Inn. Today, I decided to start on the opposite side of the creek.
It was very humid and I wasn't sure what kind of impact this would have on the run. I've dealt with plenty of humidity during runs this summer, but this was possibly the worst. It was in the 90s and humid and that was after some cooler weather last week. I ran without a shirt and was still soaked very quickly.
Right as I started on the trail, I saw some people who had just been swimming. It is a popular place in the summer. It has been so long since I ran this section that I sort of forgot where to go. I was hesitant to start there because I thought there was a creek crossing. I figured that it would be dry this time of year though. I think I was actually supposed to head uphill more to go where I wanted to. Instead, I ran the bottom trail, near the creek.
I forgot how fun this side is. It is some up and down and in and out. There are rocks here and there and some of them are even huge boulders. Most of it is very runnable, although I did have to walk some of it. I also lost the trail at one point and had to find it again.
The sun wasn't beating on me, but it was peaking through the trees and that probably didn't help. When I came to the small creek as it fed into the main creek, I ended up running by a bunch of people who were swimming. I'm pretty sure someone in the group yelled "Way to go whitey" or something along those lines. I wasn't paying much attention to them though. The creek was largely dry and I was just trying to navigate over all the rocks.
I'm not sure if where the people were swimming was the "Devils' Hole" or not. I can't quite remember where that is, but I know it is over that way somewhere. It would've been nice to take a dip today.
This section is so unique. There is one part where the trail just goes through 2 huge boulders. Another section had a lot of steps and I walked up those. Then there was a pedestrian bridge over one part. Definitely some fun stuff that you don't see on every trail run. I do miss running there.
The up and down of the trail was wearing me out though. Plus, I was running late and really trying hard to squeeze this run in. With the time constraints and the humidity, I knew I wasn't going to run the 7-10 miles that I had hoped for. To get more distance in and not destroy myself, I got back onto the smoother main trail when I could. This was about 1.25 miles into the run.
I wasn't very far along and already the humidity was getting to me. My legs are still slightly beat from the marathon. Perhaps the worst thing is that I had a cheeseburger and fries for lunch. That didn't sit well in my stomach and I felt slow and heavy.
I went out to about 1.75 miles before turning around. Since I was struggling so much, it was time to just focus on one mile at a time. Even having a water bottle didn't help much. By mile 2, I figured I would be past mile 3 when I got back to Valley Green, so I'd at least get that far.
I was amazed at how many people were running in the heat and humidity. I think some of them were high school cross country runners. I also saw a beat up looking old guy that looked like a trail runner that you would expect to see in the mountains. Then there was another long haired young guy that looked like of like Blake from Workaholics.
Before getting back to Valley Green, a guy passed me. My pace was now around 9 minutes for each mile. He actually wasn't going that fast, but fast enough for me to let him go in this weather. I got to Valley Green just after 3 miles.
The guy was stopped at the water fountain. A young lady turned around right in front of me and I was now chasing her. I knew this couldn't be good. Actually, I didn't push myself too hard and she ended up being a nice pacer for a half mile or so. I reeled her in, but never quite got by. Near the top of a hill, I decided to turn around and head back toward Valley Green.
I figured that some short out and back runs would get some distance without over extending me. I was beat at 2.5 miles and it was only getting worse and worse. Once I hit 4 miles, I knew that I could muster out one more easy mile. I did that, but it sure wasn't easy. There was some slight uphill past Valley Green. I battled it and turned around and finished up right before getting to Valley Green again.
Although I didn't get as much mileage or as much trail running done as I would've liked, it was still a productive run, given the conditions. Any time I can run at this location, I'm happy. The fundraiser was fun too. I caught up with some old friends and met some new ones and it was all for a good cause.
The plan tomorrow is a good amount of cycling (since I didn't ride any today) and possibly a short run. The weather is supposed to suck tomorrow, so I'll have to play it by ear. Hopefully it won't be too bad and the good week can continue.
5 miles - 48:58 (9:48 pace)
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