The plan today was two easy runs after yesterday's hard run. I was busy at work. I had orders at three different times of day. That made getting runs in difficult, but I got it accomplished.
I couldn't get myself to run in the morning, which I think was probably a good thing because I don't think my legs could've handled it after yesterday's hard run. In the afternoon, I didn't have much time, so I ran the neighborhoods by my house. I hate running there, so I rarely do that. The plan was a super easy 5 mile recovery run.
I started off nice and slow. I ran a loop around my neighborhood (which is about a mile). I then ran down to the elementary school and ran the Blue Eagle 5k loop. This can be a little challenging with some small hills, but running it with an easy effort was no problem.
My legs weren't killing me, but they sure didn't feel great either. I'm not sure they cared too much for running on the pavement. It is actually better for them than stone rail trails are though.
The weather was quite nice. There was no sun out, but it was in the mid 40s with very little wind. I would sure take that all winter. I wore a jacket, but would've had on less if I was running faster.
This run was quite boring and uneventful. The miles seemed to go by slowly. That's partly because I'm used to riding my bike in this area and covering the distance at a much faster clip. I had a couple dogs bark at me, but that was about it.
Even without much effort, I ran quite a few miles around an 8 minute pace. My legs did come around and the pace quickened as the run went on. After finishing the race course, I ran a loop in the elementary school parking lot. I finished the run with a partial loop of the neighborhood.
After delivering a dinner order, I went out and ran again before another order. Since our store is near the Jordan Creek Parkway, I decided to run there. I've been waiting to check it out at night anyway (even though I'm pretty sure that isn't allowed).
It was just as nice from a weather standpoint as it was earlier in the day. I wore a lightweight long sleeve top and shorts. I was even sweating pretty good by the end of the run.
I parked on the paved lot next to some apartments. I figured this would be better at night as opposed to the regular lot. My legs didn't like the idea of beginning on the paved path along the river, but that section didn't last long. Before I knew it, I was over the "Bridge to Nowhere" and then climbing up the ridge trail.
This was fun, but with so many interconnecting trails, I kept sort of getting lost. I could see the apartment complex lights below, so I always had a general idea of where I was. After weaving in and out, I went down the ridge and back to the paved section. It was over a mile into the run.
My headlamp isn't the greatest and the battery seems to be dieing too. I couldn't see very well. Thankfully, this is an easy trail without too many rocks or significant elevation changes.
After being on the paved path for a bit, I climbed the steepest trail section of the route. There is a ledge and that made it kind of interesting, but it wasn't too dangerous. Still, it probably wasn't the best idea to be running this section alone and at night. I did stumble a couple times going up it and I stumbled a few more times during the run.
When the climb was done, I was now to the tricky section. I can find my way out of here in the daylight, but evidently not in the darkness. I kept going round and round. Every time that I thought I was headed the correct way, the trail would curve back the other way. I probably even ran a lot of the same sections. So much looked familiar. Eventually, I came to the main path. I then came out to a big cut through and knew exactly where it went to. It led to one of the disc golf holes and down the hill.
I went downhill and then ran the flat open section through the disc golf course. I came out on the baseball fields and ran through the course some more. I'm getting pretty familiar with this section. I went by a pond and then crossed a footbridge. I headed back along the creek and was in my normal parking area before long.
By now, I was over 4.5 miles. Something ran out of the bushes in this section. It was pretty loud, so I'm thinking it was a deer. I ran over the main path again and then took a section down the creek. I came out by the "Bridge to Nowhere" and again ran the main paved path back to my car.
When I was back at my car, there was another car in the lot. Someone was in it too. I wasn't crazy about that. I had some more distance to go, so I ran a short segment through the apartment complex. The car left as I was running back. I finished up with 6 miles.
It was a solid day and I was glad to be done with it. I wanted to run 10 miles for the second run, but the legs weren't feeling it and it was too hard to see. I'll have to put it two more solid days to finish the week. I'm hoping to run 12 miles tomorrow, maybe at Jacobsburg. I would like to go on trails. On Saturday, I might run twice, but break it up into 2 runs.
Afternoon Road Run: 5 miles - 41:57 (8:24 pace)
Night Trail Run: 6 miles - 1:03:07 (10:31 pace)
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