Friday, January 24, 2014

Just Another Freezing Day at Riverview

I figured that I needed a road run today.  I was going to head out in the afternoon.  Then, Emily asked me if I wanted to join her for a late morning run.  Run alone later when it would still be freezing cold or run with a good friend earlier.  That was an easy decision.  We agreed to meet up at Riverview Park.

The plan was to run 6 miles.  We were going to run toward Easton and back.  We had to start out on Lehigh Drive to run since the path wasn't plowed through the small section.  That road can be a little dangerous and we had to run side by side when cars were coming.  At least it is a short segment.

I had brought tons of extra layers, but actually didn't need it.  Although the temperature didn't make it out of the teens, the sun was at least shining.  That makes a huge difference.  I had on my normal winter attire.  I actually took my headband on and off throughout the run as the wind direction changed.  I'm getting so used to this cold that it isn't even a big deal anymore.

We went out cruising along.  The path was in pretty good shape.  It was plowed all the way until almost Easton.  The problem is that it wasn't always bare pavement, so sometimes there was a layer of snow.  At least it wasn't slippery.

I say this all of the time, but I really need to make running with people a regular thing.  Time blows by when you have a running partner.  That is especially true with Emily as we end up talking a lot.  Most of it was about possible marathons and stuff like that.  We've both been trying to nail down our spring racing plans.

As we got toward Easton, there was an ice jam on the river again.  That was cool to see.  I joked around about walking across the river.  I wonder if it would've been possible.  The ice wasn't as thick as it was a few weeks back when it was full of mini icebergs.  Maybe it will be like that again in a couple days since it is supposed to continue to be freezing.

We were almost to Easton when the snow plow's path ended.  It was about 2.5 miles at that point, so we turned around and headed back.  I thought it would be warmer heading back, but it was just as bad or worse.  It was like there was a slight breeze in both directions.

Around the 5k point, Emily tripped and fell on the edge of the snow.  That hurt her ankle, so we stopped and walked briefly.  Then we got going and continued on.  The pace slowed a little from that point on, but it still wasn't slow. 

It wasn't long and we were back onto Lehigh Drive.  I asked her if she still wanted to do 6 miles and she said she did, so we kept going.  We needed a short out and back in the other direction.  That flew by quickly too.  I commented to her that I have probably run about 5 days ever that were colder to today prior to this year.  Now, I've probably run 5-10 days this bad or worse this winter alone.  The temperatures have been brutal and I can't remember when they were ever this bad.

We finished up at 6 miles and had a short cool down walk to the car.  The top of my foot bothered me a little, but I'm happy to say that I've had no issues with my shin all week.  Maybe I backed off enough now.  I've only run a little over 20 miles this week.  I'll push it a bit more now and then stop if I have any problems again.

This was a good run and it was great to have the company.  It made 6 miles in the cold seem like 6 minutes.  We were discussing getting together for long runs in the spring.  I'm used to doing those alone, so having Emily to run with could be a huge help. 

Tomorrow, I have no idea what I'm doing.  I might run with the BCR in the morning.  That may be tough though because it is going to be cold again.  It is a group run, so there is a chance I'll be there.  I'd like to try to see if I can run 10 miles regardless of where and when I run.  I haven't done that in over 2 weeks now.

6 miles - 48:06 (8:01 pace)

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