I've been trying to put in 60 miles of running this week and 100 miles of biking. After doing nothing on Sunday, it has been tough. Yesterday, all I did was bike 15 miles. I went out to the Nor-Bath Trail last night and just didn't feel like running, so I did nothing. That meant that I needed to do a lot more today.
I still had 27 miles to run coming into today. I planned to run 13 miles. I ended up doing even more than that. Since I had an order in Bangor from work, I figured that I wasn't far from the Delaware Water Gap. I decided to head up to the McDade Trail. I've run and biked there before, but was hoping to explore more of it.
I initially parked at Smithfield Beach. It was rainy and cold. I sat around and let it pass. I also let the wings and fries that I had for lunch digest. I figured I might pay for eating those. I was going to head north from the beach, but I saw what looked like the trail was roped off. I decided to head farther up River Road.
I then found a small parking area called Riverview. I started there. I wanted to go north again, which was a good idea since I saw a bunch of hunters in the fields to the south.
I thought I might've ridden through this section, but that was some time ago. The sun was a out some and it was a little better weather wise. It went from sunny to cloudy throughout the run. It was often windy too. I wore a jacket and headband.
This is an awesome trail. It is stone and wide and runs along the river. Instead of a boring flat rail trail, it goes up and down. There are some small bridges over water and stuff like that. It's still pretty runnable. Most of the leaves are gone now. I'd imagine that it looked awesome a couple weeks ago. I'll have to head up there earlier next fall.
After a couple miles, I came out to a stone road. I remembered this area and had been there before. I was on this road with my bike last time. This time, I noticed that the actual trail comes out of a parking lot. I ran up it and up is definitely the appropriate word. It was a pretty significant climb. Since it was less than 2 miles into the run, I decided to walk it.
I then came to the park office at the top of the climb. There was a cool bridge over some marsh lands before it. If I was hiking rather than running, I really would've enjoyed this area. After the office, there was a steep downhill. I didn't want to climb back up it, so I headed back down.
When I got back to the stone road, I ran out on it. Not long after that, I came to a construction area. I had to turn around and head back to the car. It was around 3 miles at this point. I didn't have many options though.
When I got back to the car, I was less than 5 miles into the run. I headed in the other direction. I figured that I would do that until I got near the hunters. It didn't take long and I heard gun shots. I turned around pretty quickly since a friend has my orange vest and I didn't have bright colors on.
I just decided to head back out in the original direction. I figured I might only run 7 miles, but at least that was a start. Maybe I would run elsewhere. By now, I was burping a lot and eating the wings was taking its toll.
I came across a guy on a bike. There were two guys riding today. Other than them and the hunters, it was rather quiet and peaceful.
About a half mile from my car, there was a hill and trail leading to some restroom facilities and a parking lot. I ran up there for some extra mileage. It wasn't far. I went back out to the stone road. I got to about 8.5 miles before I turned around again. I was happy with my progress and now knew I'd at least get 10 miles in.
My back was getting a little sore by now and so were my legs. That was just another problem in addition to my digestion. I just sputtered along. The pace slipped some.
I was just under 10 miles when I got back to my car. I knew some how, some way I'd get to 13 miles. I went back out the other way for a short distance and then headed the original way.
I kept trying to go farther and farther out. The more I got out, the closer I was to the end when I got back. I turned around after about a mile and a quarter. Running back was slow and difficult.
I just focused on small increments and eventually I got to my car. I had another quarter mile to go yet. I went pretty hard to finish up this final mile. It was good to get this run out of the way.
This is a fun trail and I hope to run there a lot more. It is very long and I'd love to run the whole thing. I definitely need to explore more of it, especially the north end.
After I got home, I ate and watched TV for a couple hours. I planned on a night ride. I then decided I would try a short run on the neighborhood roads near my house. It was a little chilly when I started, but the wind died down.
I took it nice and easy through the dark. I thought this would be a good area for a 4 mile route. It is lightly traveled with only a few houses and an industrial park nearby.
It was peaceful and pretty uneventful short run. The pace was slow, but it was good recovery. I was worried that my legs might be sore, but they weren't. There were some long climbs. They took their toll by mile 3 and I was sore towards the end.
After finishing up, I rode a lot of the same area. It was very chilly on the bike, but I survived. I got in a solid 15 miles. It was nice to use the ride for recovery. I kept the pace slow.
It was a big day and I'm glad to be done riding and biking. I'm now up to 50 miles of running and 85 miles of biking this week. I still need to run another 10 miles and bike 15 more. I'm going to run with the BCR in the morning. I might need to add another short run later in the day. The ride could come in the afternoon or evening. It won't be long. I can't wait to be done with this week. It has been tough.
13 miles - 2:06:54 (9:46 pace) - Run #1
4 miles - 37:04 (9:16 pace) - Run #2
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