I took off yesterday, after running every day but one since my marathon attempt. The body had not been doing well and I knew it needed that rest day. I figured I would go out there today and run 13 easy miles and see what kind of soreness I felt. After Sunday's tough 10 miles, I wasn't sure I would feel good and be recovered.
The weather wasn't terrible, but it was chilly again. It was still in the 30s and there were snow flurries. Originally, I was going to wear a jacket, but with no wind, I would've been too hot. I had on a light weight long sleeve shirt and long pants. That was a good choice. Without gloves, my hands were a little chilly, but overall I felt good.
I went to Riverview Park in Easton. The plan was to run out to the end of the path, just past the Route 22 bridge and then turn around. I'd head the other direction when I got back to get to 13 miles. I started off nice and easy. I was shocked at how good my legs felt. Every run last week had early soreness. There was none today. I clicked off a decent 8:23 opening mile.
It was nice to be able to run along the path and not on Lehigh Drive. The snow is finally all gone and it is clear. When I went to Hugh Moore Park, I decided to begin with a loop there. That went well. I had to stop for a quick bathroom break, but continued on. My miles began to dip into the sub 8 minute range.
I kept telling myself to hold back even more and slow down. If I felt good after this run, I was going to probably sign up for the Ocean Drive Marathon. If I'm going to run that, I have to hold back early on. Therefore, I felt it was a good idea to do that during this run.
Things did speed up though, even with the same effort. Mile 3 was a 7:31 and mile 4 was a 7:36. I felt good and was running happy as I got to Easton. It is nice running along the river, even on a crappy day. I didn't see many people out today, so I was on my own.
Some of the short climbs around Easton, as well as running on the sidewalks, did slow me down. I still ran sub 8 minute miles. I went under the Route 22 bridge and decided to keep going. I did this short loop. Then I decided to throw in a challenge. I ran up College Avenue to Lafayette's campus. That is quite the hill and difficult even at an easy effort.
I ran through Lafayette's campus. It's a nice campus, so that made it fun. It was a little hilly. As I got back to the downhill part, I was now at 6.5 miles. It was good to be halfway done. I cruised down the hill. The uphill had caused me to run an 8:05 mile, but I was now back to 7:50 and under miles.
I got back onto the path and was starting to feel like crap. I began thinking maybe I wasn't as recovered as I wanted to be. I wasn't in terrible shape yet, but I was hoping to feel better at that point. I came to 7.5 miles and thought to myself that I wish I felt this way at 12.5 miles, but I figured it would get worse.
I was actually wrong on that assumption. Once I got back onto the paved path, things got much better. The soreness didn't completely leave, but it got reduced. I think the pounding of the sidewalks had taken their toll in the miles before that. Now, I was enjoying the slightly softer pavement.
I ran pretty consistent from that point on. My fastest mile was a 7:32 and the slowest was a 7:48. That's exactly the kind of consistency I'll need if I run this weekend (but a faster pace obviously).
I focused on the upcoming miles. It was great to get to mile 9 and then mile 10. I decided to loop around Hugh Moore Park to add another mile. I was glad that the geese there got out of my way. The same thing happened with some other geese throughout the run. I'm always happy to avoid them.
I got back to Riverview at 11.9 miles. I had a short out and back the other way. The legs were still feeling solid and I was enjoying the run. They did feel better than they had at 7.5 miles. Shortly after heading out, I saw 3 deer run across the trail. Then a tenth of a mile or two later, I saw 2 more deer go in the other direction, followed by 3 more. I don't know if those were the same deer as earlier, but they were pretty far apart.
I got out to where I wanted to turn around and just kept going. I felt good, so I thought why not go over a mile out and back. I turned around at mile 13.
Of course it was slightly breezy as I headed back. It wasn't too bad though. As I got close to Riverview, I saw a woman in pink coming the other way. It turned out to be my friend Gayle. She must've just started as I was finishing up.
It was good to be done. I did better than I thought, so I might try to run the Ocean Drive Marathon. The issue is that registration has already closed online. I would have to sign up at the expo if it is still available. The weather looks great, with a low of 40 and a high of 54, so I guess I should give it a try.
I'm definitely resting tomorrow and want to see how I'll recover. I'm thinking I'll run 6 or 7 miles on both Thursday and Friday and try to do them around a 7 minute pace, just to get used to that pace. Then, I'd take Saturday off and race Sunday. That should get me sharp enough and also give me just enough rest for Sunday.
If I run the race, the game plan is to be more conservative this time. I'll shoot for a sub 3:05, rather than a sub 3 hour marathon. Instead of trying to run the first half under 1:30, I'll see if I can run it at 1:32 and pick it up a little in the second half if I feel good. I'll try to run smarter and see if it works and if not, I'll run either a summer or fall marathon. I'll try to put no pressure on myself to run a certain pace, even though I typically don't put much pressure on myself anyway.
14 miles - 1:49:07 (7:48 pace)
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