Saturday, November 23, 2013

BCR and a Short Run

Yesterday was actually a fairly nice day.  However, I just wasn't feeling a run and couldn't drag myself out the door.  A rest day wasn't a terrible idea anyway.

I knew I'd get out there today, I just wasn't sure when.  I had to go to the Lafayette-Lehigh game, so that ruled out the afternoon.  I wanted to go out and run with the BCR before that.  I got up looked at the weather, laid back down and tossed the idea of "to go" or "not to go" over and over again.  Finally, I decided it was too cold and I didn't want to run.  Then, out of nowhere I popped out of bed, quickly changed and drove to the Boat Launch for the run.  I didn't have much time to even get there.

I was sure glad that I made it out there.  It wasn't as cold as I thought it was.  Perhaps most importantly, there was no wind.  I was actually overdressed with ColdGear, tights and even a fleece vest on.  I was planning on a slow run though.

Mertz was there and took off way ahead of everyone.  I ran with Chris D.  I knew I wasn't going to run with Mertz and I didn't want to run alone.  We started off slow and were behind a couple of the others in the group.  Eventually, we picked it up a little and passed all of them.  Only Mertz was ahead of us.

It was a nice and peaceful run along the river.  We talking about running and auto racing.  The time just flew by.  This is exactly why I need to join group runs more often.  Before I knew it, we were over 2.5 miles.  Chris was only doing 5 miles, so we turned around.

I figured that I might as well run 5 miles with him and then finish the run off with 2 miles on my own.  Running back was great too.  I had a headband and gloves on and it got so warm that I took them off.  We passed a bunch of the other BCR on the way back.

Before I knew it, we were back at the Boat Launch.  I continued on by myself in the other direction.  I was on the pavement and my legs felt pretty good.  I passed some guy that was walking and he made a weird noise at me.  I was a little worried about going by him on the way back, but he didn't do anything.

I ran out to 6.15 miles.  I turned around and there was a slow group of women runners that I had to pass.  I wanted to push hard when I turned around and that was just what I did.  That mile's pace dropped from 7:20 down to a 6:33.  It was a nice, fast finish. 

I was so glad to be done and get in a solid 7 miles.  I haven't run with the BCR enough and it is something I need to do more often.  They are a good group and it makes running so much easier.  Time just flies by.  I also need to run more often with other people in general.  I'm upping my mileage and can only run by myself so much.

I was hoping to get to 55 miles for the week.  Therefore, I needed 7 more miles at night.  I got out before 9 PM.  The temperature had dropped and it was super windy.  Weather.com said it was a wind chill of 18 degrees.  There were some snow flurries too and the ground was slick after that.

I decided to just run around the neighborhoods near my house.  I wore about the same attire as the earlier run.  I turned on my headlamp and twice it died and turned off.  I took that as a sign that this wasn't the greatest idea.

I headed to the elementary school near my house to just run a couple loops in the parking lot.  The goal was to run 2 miles and get to 50 miles for the week.  Not as great as I was hoping, but still a nice round number for me.

I did a couple loops and they were interesting.  Part of it was super windy and cold and in the other directions, it was calm and warm.  I went back and forth between thinking "this is a great run" and "this is a terrible run."  When I got 2 miles in, I finally decided to call it a day. 

I want to run tomorrow anyway, so it is good to save myself some.  Really, there wasn't any point in 5 more miles.  It would've just been a good mental challenge with the wind and such. 

This week, I'll be super busy with Thanksgiving and lots of work.  However, I'm hoping I can fit 65 miles of running in.  I want to get my mileage consistently into the 70s and 80s over the winter.  Even though I have a lot of time, that won't be easy to do.  I'm up for the challenge though.

BCR Run - 54:20 (7:46 pace)
Night Run - 18:04 (9:03 pace)

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