I had problems with my shin, so I've back off for almost 3 weeks. None of my runs have been over 6 miles long, since that time. I've had no issues at all in over a week, so I figured it was time to test things again with a long run.
I didn't have any work today, so I started off after 11 AM. The weather was beautiful at the start, compared to recent weather. It was sunny with a slight breeze and the temperature was almost at the freezing mark. That is now amazingly high. I only wore my ColdGear top and started with my gloves on, but my headband tucked into my pants. I was afraid I might be too hot. I even wore sunglasses.
The plan was to see if I could run 15 miles, but really I had no idea what I could do. If I started encountering problems, I would back off and call it a day early. That's my plan from here on out. I headed to Riverview Park, since that is one of the few areas that is usually plowed. It was good before Saturday's snowfall, but I wasn't sure if it would be plowed since then.
I started off heading toward the Route 33 Boat Launch. It had not been plowed yet. The plow was actually in the parking lot, working on that first. Running in this snow wasn't bad. It wasn't deep at all, since we only had a few inches. I was fine with it, but I wanted to be cautious early on in the long run. I elected to only go out a mile and then come back.
I also did this because I had to go to the bathroom and I knew they had one setup in Hugh Moore Park. I ran out in the other direction toward Easton. First, I stopped and moved my car for the plow to finish in the parking lot. I then grabbed a quick drink too. That would be my only stop of the run.
I went along Lehigh Drive for a bit (since the other section is never plowed). Luckily, I only encountered one car. I then ran the loop around Hugh Moore Park and stopped at the bathroom too. I ran one loop there. Each loop is about a mile in length.
I then ran over back on the canal path. The plan was to go all the way out toward Easton and come all the way back. It's about 2 more miles out from that point. This part of the path was plowed. It was a mix of a thin layer of snow and some asphalt. It had pretty good grip.
By now, the sun had hit behind some clouds and it was starting to get colder and windier. I knew the nice weather wasn't going to last long, but I was hoping it would last longer than this. I put my headband and gloves on and wore them for the rest of the run. I thought about even going back and grabbing my vest. At least I wasn't going to sweat much any more.
It was cool running along the river. At one point, it was completely frozen and covered in snow. I ran out to the end of where they can go with the plow. By now, I was over 6 miles into the run. I wanted to keep going out farther, so I ran through the snow. Quite a few mountain bikes had gone through there, so it wasn't bad. I ran under the train and road bridges.
After the bridges, the snow became worse and it was hard to run in. I didn't want to mess around with it, so I turned around and headed back. Getting to the halfway point of 7.5 miles was important. That was also farther then I have run in weeks. I next focused on running to mile 10. At least if I got that far, I'd be satisfied.
There rarely are people out in this section and that is especially the case in this weather. I was running alone most of the time. I got into a groove and was cruising along. My pace was a little over 8 minutes per mile when I was on bare pavement, but in this partially plowed section, it was more like 7:50 miles. That was interesting. I guess the snow softened the impact.
I got back to Hugh Moore Park around 8.5 miles. I decided to run two loops around that park again. That would get me to 10.5 miles. It was boring, but breaking the run up into different segments like this really helped. I was having no pain, but the legs were definitely feeling beat already at 10 miles. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since I haven't run this far in awhile. Still, I was disappointed.
I continued on. I decided I would go back out toward Easton. If I could just go another mile out and back and then run back to my car, I'd be at 13 miles. Then I could add on a couple more in the other direction from Riverview.
I saw a kid walking twice in this segment. After a mile in this direction, I kept on going. I was feeling good, so I figured why not continue. I decided I'd run out as far as they had it plowed again. I turned around at about 12.5 miles. A mountain bike flew past me, but he elected not to go through the snow. He turned around too when the plowing had ended on the path.
I knew if I ran straight back to my car, I'd be at 15 miles. By now, I was strongly considering running to 16 miles. I tried to just focus on the upcoming mile though. You never know because things can go downhill quickly during a long run.
I arrived back at Hugh Moore Park around 14.5 miles. I elected to run the loop there again. That was the 4th time around there. It is boring, but doing it in between other segments, breaks things up a bit and makes it more manageable.
Although I was kind of beat up at mile 15, I figured that I'd pick up the pace a little for the end of the run. It would still only be a moderate effort. The overall pace was right around 8 minutes per mile, but that quickly dropped it below 8.
I ran back to my car after the loop. When I got to the Riverview Parking lot, I was over 16 miles. I had thought I might try to run 17 miles anyway, so I continued on. This section heading out west was now plowed, so that was helpful.
I continued my moderate pace. The first moderate mile was 7:09. I pushed a little more on this one because I figured that it was my last mile. The pace for this mile became 7:04.
As I got to mile 17, I was feeling awesome. I thought why not add yet another mile. That would be 3 more miles than I planned. I knew I'd be very happy with an 18 mile run. I ran out a little farther until I was 1 mile from the parking lot.
I turned around and headed back. I was starting to tire now. Still, I was giving a moderate effort. I only cared about finishing though. I ran by a walker. I finished up at mile 18 with a 7:18 mile. It was a great day and of course I was thrilled to be done and be running healthy again. I hope I'm over all of that for good now.
I saw the plow truck come back as I was stretching at my car. I was wondering if that guy saw me. It would be funny if he did, because he started plowing almost 2 hours and 30 minutes earlier. Surely, he would've thought I was crazy, if he realized that I was still running.
I am sore now and was during the run, but overall I'm not too bad. I remember that it wasn't too long ago where an 18 miler would take days to recover from. Now, it's not that big of a deal. My strength and endurance are just so awesome. I'm curious to see what kind of times I can run when the weather gets better. I may have to rethink my goal of a sub 3:00 marathon. I might be a bit faster than that in a few months. Time will tell.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping for 10 or 12 miles. Nothing big, just another easy effort. I'll likely head to Riverview again or possibly Mill Race Park. I'm hoping I can get back over 60 miles for the week. Being consistent week in and week out from here on through to the spring is key. Eventually as it warms up, I'll push the effort a little more too on some of the runs. The mileage will be about the same throughout the rest of the winter and on into the spring.
18 miles - 2:21:51 (7:53 pace)
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