No Plan Day

I recovered fairly well from the disappointing half marathon on Sunday.  I had some minor soreness yesterday, but that was largely because I was on my feet a lot of the day watching friends do well at the Philadelphia Marathon.  Otherwise, I felt good.

I woke up feeling kind of weird this morning.  I'm still thrilled at where my training is at.  I had a bad race and it was just a test run anyway.  At the same time, a bad race is still frustrating and hard to shake.  The biggest issue is that you want to get that bad taste out of your mouth, but with it being so late in the year, I won't have a shot at another half marathon or longer race for months.  I have the half marathon in February in New York, but the weather should be terrible for that.  Maybe I just need to focus on getting my 5K time back under 20 minutes as redemption.

After feeling that way, I needed to just get out and get a run in.  I also wanted a fun, relaxing trail run.  I never run on much of a plan, but before I go out for a run, I usually get an idea of how much I'm going to run.  Today, I just decided to totally go on feel.  Of course I would've liked 8-12 miles, but really that didn't matter.  I just wanted to start running and then stop whenever I felt like it.  It was a true no plan day.

I like the trails at Jordan Creek Parkway.  They aren't too challenging and they are a lot of fun.  I just wish they were longer.  I decided to head there and run.

The temperature was great, but it was windy.  That made it a little chilly walking around, but it was fine during the run.  I wore short sleeves and shorts.

I started off on the trail along the creek, like I usually do.  There were a few people playing disc golf, so I didn't want to go that way.  The trail was much different than the last time I was there.  All the leaves are gone and it seems barren.  Thankfully, there aren't many rocks hiding under the leaves.

Before long, I was at the "Bridge to Nowhere."  I ran the path along the creek first.  This is fun, flat and easy.  I was just enjoying the run and taking everything in.  I didn't even think to look at my watch.  I did an out and back in this section and then took the other trail to climb to the top of the ridge.

This is a relatively short hill and not too difficult to get up.  Still, when I was at the top, I was impressed with how high up I actually was.  With no more leaves, I could really see the creek below.  I had fun running through this section and then I headed back down and back across the "Bridge to Nowhere."

I then ran along the paved part of the path.  A short distance later is a lengthy climb.  This actually isn't that hard and I only started breathing heavy at the very top of it.  It is a little tricky because the trail is right on the edge of the ridge. 

After the climbing, it was mostly back to the flat section at the top.  I ran all through there.  I took several different ways and ended up looping back to the same spot several times.  It was fun to explore more trails and also adding some distance.

Finally, I ran down one of the disc golf holes.  Then I ran through the disc golf course area.  I hit mile 4 and decided to look at my watch for the first time.  I had not even given it a thought up to that point.  By now, I figured that I would get back to my car around mile 5.  I figured that I was feeling good and would probably just run 2 more miles at that point.

I got back to my car and decided to head back out the original way again.  The legs were getting slightly tired, but not too bad.  I just continued along.  I decided that rather than do an out and back, I'd go over the "Bridge to Nowhere" and run to the top of the ridge and then back down to the bottom to do a loop.

At the bridge, a woman was calling for her dog.  She asked me if I saw it and I told her I had not.  I was glad to see later on that she found it.  I got back to my car again around 7.5 miles.

I wanted a short out and back to finish up at 8 miles.  I had to wait for a guy to throw his disc.  I continued on until I got to a small pedestrian bridge over the creek.  I then came back and hit 8 miles. 

It was a solid day and more importantly an enjoyable run.  I can't complain at all about the weather or the trail.  It was fun to just run relaxed and easy.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure yet if I'll be running hard or not.  I might go to a basketball game in the evening and that could dictate my schedule.  Eventually, I want to get to the site of my winter 50k that is coming up. 

I thought about biking tonight, but it is windy and I don't think I have the energy to do it.  Maybe I'll change my mind.  I definitely won't be biking as much as it gets colder as I was during the summer.  Hopefully I can keep a solid biking base anyway.

8 miles - 1:18:28 (9:49 pace)