I didn't feel all that great yesterday, even though the weather was nice. I decided to see if Angie was doing a long run today, because I needed some company. I figured with Boston training, she probably would be. She told me she was running with Bob, Alison and Christina at 8. They were doing a hilly 9 miles together and she was continuing on after that. Since my quads can't take hills very well right now and I like to start later anyway, I decided to run the last half of the run with Angie.
I arrived at the parking lot of the Forks Community Center and couldn't believe how cold it was. Winter came back today after yesterday's nice run. It was in the upper 30s and cloudy too. I saw everyone was coming, so I went into my car to get some gloves. Then when I looked back up, they were gone (doing another loop). I had on shorts, but was glad I started off with gloves and wore a jacket too. That broke up some of the wind.
They were only doing a short loop and then came back around. This time, I ran with them as the other three finished up. I didn't start my watch and I used this as a warmup. I've been to the community center before, but I've never run there.
The plan was for Angie and I to run about 10 miles. We'd head down to Penn Pump Park and back. This would be my 7th run in the last 8 days. Only last Monday was a day of rest. I haven't been doing big mileage, but I've been running frequently.
I strapped on my new shoes and we took off. We began chatting away. We talked plenty about training, races and running in general. It made time breeze by. Going down a big hill early on was nice too. Before I knew it, we were at Penn Pump Park and onto the trail.
I had no idea which direction we were running. We headed out toward Tatamy. There were a few walkers along the way. It was a bit chilly out for most people. I didn't even look at my watch until about 2.3 miles. I rarely looked at it from that point on.
It wasn't long that we were to the stone section and then through the edge of Tatamy. We turned around where the trail ended and headed back. It was slightly under 5 miles at that point.
The pace was excellent. It was just over 8 minutes per mile. That is usually my easy run pace. I was kind of surprised we were going that fast actually. Angie was running 20 miles. I don't usually even run my 20 milers at that pace. Maybe that's why I struggle so much with faster paced marathons. We did talk about that and I definitely need some more runs at goal marathon pace or at least close to it.
We were back at Penn Pump again in no time. At one point, I looked at my watch and it was 7.5 miles. I couldn't believe we ran that far. It sure seemed like we had run only about 3 miles at that point. The company was so great. It was good practice too, since we'll be running 50 miles together in 2 months. I guess it's a good thing that we get along.
Leaving Penn Pump was a bit challenging. There is a good uphill. I went ahead of Angie a bit because I don't like to run uphill slowly. She quickly caught up though. My legs were feeling it once again. They definitely haven't recovered from last weekend. They aren't killing me or anything, but I really shouldn't be sore on an easy 10 mile run. I should be used to it by now.
We got back to the community center and ran another loop to get to mile 10. I stopped a little before her and began walking to my car. I wanted some recovery, especially since I was sore. I did some brief stretching and then went to Dunkin' Donuts.
Tomorrow, I'll finally give my body the day off. After today, it surely needs it. I can't believe how beat up I feel. I'll try to run about 13 miles on Tuesday. If I can't handle it better than today, I'm going to scrap my spring marathon plans and work on training for one in the summer. I'll concentrate on a lot of mileage to prepare for the 50 miler. I'll work on getting faster too.
This was my second run with someone this week and it was great. I definitely need to join people more often. If I ever get over 80 miles per week on a regular basis, I'll probably have to run at least 3 times a week with someone. It makes the miles pass so much faster.
Tomorrow is an off day. Tuesday will be a longer run. It will probably be on pavement to test things out. I need to see what I have. It will be on a flat surface too, maybe at Riverview Park.
10 miles - 1:20:35 (8:04 pace)
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