After a solid 12 miles last night, I wanted another long run tonight. I was going to run in the day, but just didn't have the energy. Instead, I went out to the Nor-Bath Trail again at 8 PM. That was the same time as yesterday.
It was another beautiful, slightly chilly night. This time, I went with some long sleeves. I started off nice and easy. My headlamp was well adjusted. I ran the short out and back section toward Bath first. It was good to get an early mile in in that direction.
I saw eyes on the trail early on. That is always a little uncomfortable. They were gone when I got there though. Every now and then, something runs into the bushes during these runs. Once time, the wind blew after that too and made me unsettled.
The one thing with night runs, especially on a flat trail, is that they are very uneventful. It is just mile after mile of almost nothing. The road crossings are one of the few interesting things. I got through most of those with only brief stops. Some of the people in the cars that I was waiting for must've thought I was crazy.
At one point, I heard a guy at a house yell "hey." I'm not sure who he was yelling at. I am always worried some dogs at these houses might chase me. A couple were out later on and they barked at me.
The beginning of this route is awesome, but the surfaces change after Savage Road. There is some pavement and different stone too. Going out, it is nice, but coming back sucks because it is uphill.
I struggled slightly with the uphill. It was now over 5 miles. The legs were starting to feel it just slightly. Nothing bad, but some minor aches.
Once I got back onto the section past Savage Road, things got much better. I cruised along. I was drinking water, but feeling slightly weird because of the cold air. I just concentrated on getting to miles 7, then 8, then 9 and 10. Hitting double digit miles was the absolute minimum for this run.
I knew that when I got to the end of the trail, I'd be just over 10 miles. When I got to mile 9.4, I decided to turn around and run out again until I hit mile 10. That was great. It must've been downhill because I cruised.
It was good to hit mile 10. I was starting to tire, so I didn't know how far I'd go. I could definitely get to mile 12 without much trouble, and probably 13 too. I knew by now that I could get to mile 15, but that might be pushing it.
I just kept going. I was at about 11.5 miles when I arrived near my car. I ran that short out and back section to get in another mile.
Now, I just thought what the heck, let's go to mile 15, even if we are a little beat up doing it. While I struggled a little earlier on, I did better in this stretch because I was more focused.
I ran out to 13.8 miles and had 1.2 miles to finish. I actually just focused on quarter miles. I didn't push hard, but I did pick it up in the final mile (7:49). It was great to get to 15 miles.
I was a little sore, but not too bad. It shows how far I've come. I was thinking back to late May when I ran like 17 miles and my legs were just destroyed. Now, it would've probably taken 23 or more miles until I felt that bad.
Tomorrow, I'm trying for another long run. I'm hoping for at least 15 miles and I'd love to do 20 miles. I'm not sure where at though. I was considering South Mountain (Lehigh), but that might be too technical and time consuming. I'd love to travel, but don't know if I have the time to do that and run for a long time before it gets dark.
15 miles - 2:12:17 (8:49 pace)
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