Yesterday's run was a new adventure on a new trail. Today, it was back to the normal routes. I couldn't decide where to run, but eventually just settled on Riverview again.
The weather was a factor that had me worried. I looked at the radar and it appeared that I'd have several hours where rain would just miss us. However, if it changed course a bit or a cell popped up, I could get soaked. I slept very little yesterday after watching the Boston run come through late at night. I had no choice but to get in an afternoon nap before the run.
I headed to Riverview a little after 3 PM and was glad that the rain had held off thus far. It was quite warm, in the 60s. I wore short sleeves and shorts. I knew that could be costly if it did rain, but I figured I'd deal with it.
I decided to headed toward the Route 33 Boat Launch. I figured that I could do short out and back segments in each direction. That way, if it rained too much, I could cut the run short. I guess because it was cloudy and a chance of rain, few people were out and about while I was running.
The first half mile was terrible. The legs are so beat, so I was moving very slowly. They came around as I got used to the run. They were never great though.
It wasn't too long before I was to the Boat Launch. I haven't run on the stone/dirt trail toward Bethlehem in some time. Even though BCR is going there tomorrow morning, I decided to head that way. I wanted to get to 3 miles before turning around.
My legs did enjoy the change of surface. The scenery wasn't bad, but I can't wait until the leaves start coming in. Everything still looks so bland.
As I neared mile 3, I saw a group of about 5 or 6 teens walking on the trail. I had a tough decision to make. I wanted to go out farther, but at the same time, they could certainly cause problems for me if they wanted to. I was on quite the remote section now. When they saw me, they moved over. I figured if they were going to threatened me, they probably wouldn't do that. I took a chance and went by them with no problems.
Even though I was still concerned about the rain, I wanted to keep going out farther. The legs were feeling better and the more mileage that I could do going out and back, the better. I figured that if I at least ran to 3.5 miles, I'd have less than 3 miles to go when I got back to my car (since the goal was 10 miles).
I was running into a slight breeze on the way out. That wasn't surprising, since the storm was heading northwest and I was running west. I got to 3.5 miles and kept going to 4 miles. The first mile was well over 8 minutes, but the rest of these miles were under 8 minute pace. I was going easy.
I passed a guy with a little dog. It was kind of annoying getting around the unleashed dog, but he didn't bother me. I was glad too, because the guy was on his phone and couldn't have done much right away, if it chose to go after me.
I ran to 4.5 miles and continued on. By now, I was planning on trying to get to 5 miles before turning around. At 4.9 miles, I came to two women walking a dog. I decided it wasn't worth dealing with that and trying to pass them, so I turned around then.
It was nice not having a wind in my face now. I was disappointed to see that the guy with the little dog had turned around too. I wasn't looking forward to passing them again. At least I knew the dog was no danger.
Mile 6 was well over 8 minutes for some reason. I'm not sure if that was accurate, because my effort seemed quite consistent. Mile 7 was much quicker than the other miles too. I think my signal probably got messed up with the cloudy weather.
The softer trail had helped my legs, but they still didn't feel great. I kept slowly counting down and clicking off the miles. Getting to mile 7 was huge and so was mile 7.5. I passed the group of kids again and even thanked them for moving over this time.
Before the Boat Launch, I took my shirt off. I was sweating a lot and worried that I might start chafing. The cool air felt good. I now had about 2 miles to go and was back on pavement.
The pavement wasn't too bad. I was already feeling much better. I gradually caught up to another runner. He was so overdressed. He had on long sleeves and long pants. You can tell who has been running all winter and who hasn't been.
I enjoyed the last mile. I think my watch might've been off a little bit again. I had a bit more distance to run when I got to Riverview Park. I crossed the road and headed in the other direction briefly. I then finished up a solid outing.
Running back to back 80 mile weeks has been tough. I'm almost there though. I'm currently at 72 miles, with a day to go. I want to add 10 more miles tomorrow to finish out the week. If I can get up, I'm going to the BCR run in the morning. That always depends on how much sleep I get.
10 miles - 1:18:32 (7:51 pace)
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