Monday was a much needed day off after a hard long run on Sunday and a big week in general. Today, it was back at it. I split the day's activities into 2 runs.
Kelley and I met up in the morning at Ironton. I figured on at least one loop, but if I didn't have to go into work early, we'd be able to do more. It was kind of a crappy weather to start the day. It was still drizzling after a lot of rain overnight.
The rain was supposed to be just about over when we started though. I was originally going to run in a long sleeve shirt, but it was too warm. It was a good thing that I had packed a short sleeve to go with the shorts.
We headed out the crappy way first. That meant no uphill to start. I don't mind it either way, but I know Kelley isn't crazy about pushing the stroller up a hill in the beginning. I had to take an early bathroom break and it took me awhile to catch back up to her.
I didn't feel all that great at the start. I certainly wasn't in terrible shape, but I wasn't totally recovered from last week either. My upper quad was a bit sore/stiff.
We cruised along. I let her set the pace as always. We chatted away about running, TV, kids and other stuff. It made time fly by. There were a few people out, but it wasn't too busy on this day.
I barely even looked at my watch at all during this run. Before I realized it, we were to the hill by the caboose. Then, it is a downhill to finish up. Since I didn't get a work call, I asked her if she wanted to run longer.
We decided to run 8 miles. She said that was about as long as Evern would sleep. We headed back through the loop. Now, it would be a short out and back through the crappy section. That flew by too and we were done before I knew it.
I decided to run to mile 9. I ran a couple short out and back segments to get there. Kelley was walking back, so when I was done, she was just starting to pack up her car. I got to chat with her some more and watch the little one crawl around in the car. It was a productive way to start the day.
I haven't been to the Emmaus Run Inn group runs in some time. I decided to join them in the evening. It was good to see a lot of old friends. They had a decent turnout. I wanted to get 6 miles in and hit 15 total for the day.
It was a nice night, so I dressed in shorts and short sleeves. It was a bit windy at times. All in all, it wasn't too bad. The wind did hurt my breathing some.
We headed out toward the South Mountain trailhead. We ran the flat section, but other than that, stayed on the roads the rest of the time. As usual, I have no idea where I'm running in Emmaus. I always have to follow someone.
I started off running with Tim for the first half mile or so. Then we went uphill toward the trailhead and I decided to join Brian at the front. It was a solid sub 7:30 pace. I stayed with him the rest of the run. We talked about marathons, ultras and so on. The run went by quickly again.
In the past, Aaron has usually said he was going to run easy, but ended up taking off. I figured that is what he would do again, but he didn't. He ran easy the whole time. I could never stay with him when he took off, but now I might've been able to. I wasn't really up for too quick of a run though, so I'm glad he didn't go faster.
The miles clicked off. They were 7:24, 7:07, 7:11 for the first half of the run. The second half of the run did slow down a bit with 7:20, 7:24 and 7:30. We actually got back to the store at 5.5 miles. I kept going on my own until mile 6 though. It was another good run with company. We spent over half an hour in the store chatting afterward too.
My legs had been a bit sore after the first run, but they've come back around now. The two runs were quite productive. I think my body actually feels better after a quicker run. I like both paces though. It certainly helps me get more mileage in.
Tomorrow, I'm running twice again. I'm hoping to run 10 miles around my neighborhoods in the morning. Then, I want to test my top speed. I want to run 3 or 4 mile repeats. I want to see if I can run them under a 6 minute pace each. I'm not sure how fast I can run right now. I'm hoping to run a 5k next week, so this will give me a good gauge.
AM Run 9 miles - 1:17:48 (8:39 pace)
PM Run 6 miles - 43:56 (7:19 pace)
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