I had a pretty good, fast run on Monday evening. Then, we got hit with a cold spell. It was freezing and windy and I just couldn't drag myself out the door for 2 days. I did nothing at all. I could justify it since I signed up for a half marathon this weekend. Rest before a big race never hurts.
Finally, it was a little nicer today. It was in the upper 40s anyway with a breeze. Usually I eat and then run later in the afternoon or at night. Today, I decided to run right after work, before eating.
Since I was in Whitehall for work, I figured that it isn't too far to Emmaus. I don't run there often, so I thought that would be refreshing. A couple months ago, I ran South Mountain in the dark before I realized how stupid that was.
Every time I've run there, I was either out of shape and struggled with the climbing or it was simply too hot. That certainly wasn't the case today. I headed out with a long sleeve top and shorts. I might've even gone with a short sleeve top if I brought one with me.
I often start out at the connector trail, rather than at Apline Street. I do that because I want a flat warmup. I don't like that surface though, so I might change that up next time. After 2 days of rest, the legs felt kind of beat up early. They weren't as fresh as I expected. Hopefully it was just the awful stone surface. It is hard, but also loose and has no grip.
After about 2/3 of a mile, I was on Alpine Street and the real trail. The dirt was much nicer, although there were leaves everywhere, so the grip wasn't the best. Some of the rocks were hidden by the leaves and I nearly tripped from time to time.
This is definitely not an easy trail as it climbs up the mountain. The good thing is that a lot of it is gradual. I knew it would be tough at the start getting up the trail, but things would get better on the way back as it would mostly be downhill.
My breathing in the cooler air with some wind was a slight problem. The bigger issue is that I'm still breaking in my trail shoes and the bottom of my foot hurts on the uphill portions of the run. I just battled though, knowing that it would get easier.
I had started off going to the left. There were a lot of switchbacks. It wasn't too long until I was to this neat boulder outcrop. I then got onto the red trail from the orange one. The only time I had gone on this section was a hot evening with a group run. I nearly didn't make it out of there alive.
There was a guy with his dog and later on another guy at the powerline opening. That part has a pretty nice view of Emmaus. Before that, I ended up on an unmarked section for a short bit, but it came back on to the red trail. I nearly missed a turn at one other spot too. The leaves can hide the trail this time of the year. In this area, the trail is on a ledge, so I had to be cautious.
When I came to the powerline, I ran up it for some time. I was caught off guard early on. One section was a little wet and it was actually frozen. I realized that it had been cold the last few days, but I had not even thought about things being frozen yet, especially since it was now warm.
The powerline was a bit rocky, but the climbing wasn't too bad. I went off on what I thought was a trail, but it went to a dead end. After a slight downhill, I started heading up another powerline. That became too much of a climb, so I turned around at 2.6 miles. The plan was for 6 total miles, so I wasn't doing too bad at this point.
I would've liked to have explored more of the trails, but it was time to head back down. I'll have to do that in the future. I have still never gone off of the orange trail in the other direction and checked out those sections.
One thing I really love with trails is how focused you get. You are just worried about the next step and don't look at your watch too often. That makes the run go by quick. It sure did on this day. Before I knew it, I was back on the orange trail.
This time, I headed down the opposite direction to complete the loop. It wasn't long before I was at the bottom and I was kind of disappointed that I wasn't farther into the run. I was at 4.5 miles.
I decided to restart the loop and do a short out and back. At 4.8 miles, I came to a woman who was hiking and I just turned around. When I arrived back at the connector trail, I was over 5 miles.
Again, the connector trail was just awful. I was thankful that I didn't even have a mile to run on it. I passed a couple that was walking and was back to my car before too long. I had a short bit to finish up so I ran uphill on the road and then back down. My overall pace dropped and dropped. It was right at 10 minutes flat when I finished up.
I would certainly run in Emmaus more often if it was closer. Even so, I have to get there more often. I'd like to really get to know all the trails. They are fun and although challenging, really not too difficult. I didn't have to walk at all today.
I thought about biking this evening, but I think I'm just going to pass on that. I haven't rode since Saturday. I'll probably hop on it for 25 miles or so tomorrow. It should be nice and easy. Nothing too hard the day before the race. Maybe I'll run, but it won't be more than 3 easy miles just to get the legs going. I'm looking forward to the race. I think I can run a PR, but I guess we'll see.
6 miles - 59:59 (10:00 pace)
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