Today was the final day of my cutback week. I had to get 10 miles in. In the afternoon, I was handing out flyers to notify people of the St. Luke's Half Marathon next weekend. Therefore, I decided that I would run in that area (in Allentown).
I was all ready to head out the door at 11:15. Then I realized that it was still almost 2 hours from the time I was supposed to report for the flyer handing out. Rather than sit around and waste an hour, I left and decided to run a few miles before it.
It was another gorgeous spring day. The temperature was in the upper 50s for this one. We were meeting near Cedar Beach, so I thought I'd run there and over in the Rose Garden. I could get 3 miles or so in anyway. With the good weather, I wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt.
I started off on the stone trail around the pond at Cedar Beach. I was on pavement before long. It was a busy day around there. The toughest part was navigating through all the walkers in the Rose Garden. The first easy mile was a pretty solid 8:08.
Although the run was nice for the most part, it was quite breezy in a few directions. Luckily, that changed up pretty quickly. My pace picked up too. The outside of my foot wasn't bothering me, but now the inside felt tight instead. My second mile was a 7:26.
I passed another runner around this point. He wasn't going too quickly. I enjoyed running through the wide open section of Cedar Beach. I looped around the pond and eventually got to my car right before mile 3. That mile was another 7:26.
I still had plenty of time, so rather than stop, I kept going. I figured if I could do 4 miles, I'd have less to do later. I ran back around Cedar Beach for another loop. This mile was a bit slower at 7:32. It was good to be done and I had just enough time to eat lunch before meeting everyone.
We did quite a bit of walking when handing out the flyers. My feet got a little tired. I decided to head to the Parkway after that, to finish my running for the day. One loop around there is slightly over 6 miles, so that would work out good.
I didn't change out of my clothes from earlier and by now they were dry. It got a few degrees warmer now too. The Parkway was buzzing with activity. I decided to run the loop in the clockwise direction. That was the opposite of what I did the other day.
That also meant some challenging early hills. I realize now that I have to run hills more. I stayed away from them in the winter. I'm pretty fit, so I don't struggle with them, but I don't exactly fly over them either. Still, this first mile was 8 minutes flat.
I saw a couple women wearing long sleeve shirts and long pants to run. I have no idea how they could do that. I was sweating a lot with what I was wearing. They were doing situps later on too.
The hills were a little tough, but they didn't slow me down. I passed a woman going around a curve. I went up the Fish Hatchery Hill. That was a bit of a challenge. Even with that, I ran mile 2 at 7:24.
The downhill was nice, but my legs were getting kind of beat up. That woman didn't go up the hill, so I ended up coming out behind her an another woman. I went by both of them and ran mile 3 at 7:09. Catching them made me run a little faster than I would've liked.
Now, I was settled into some flat running for awhile. I cruised along. The legs were certainly getting tired. Mile 4 was another 7:24. I came to 4 people on horses going the other way. I don't know if I've ever actually seen horses there. If I have, it hasn't been often.
I had some more hills and then it was on to some pavement. I had fun going up the one hill past a little girl riding her bike. With 1.5 miles to go, I was beat and couldn't wait to be done. I passed over the creek with about a mile to go. Mile 5 was a 7:26. I was now headed near the start.
This gradual uphill was a bit of a struggle. It was good to be on flat for the final half mile. I looked at my watch often then. I didn't look at it too much during the run though. I tried to simply enjoy the beautiful day.
I finished up a short distance from my car and was able to walk back there. The final mile was a 7:12. I picked it up a little at the end. My legs were shot though. I finished up a solid 40 mile week.
By running on stone trails this week, I was able to eliminate the problem on the outside of the foot. However, my quads don't do well on this type of surface. They are now quite sore. I guess I have to get back onto pavement and see how I do.
I'm hoping to run 15 miles tomorrow. It is Easter Sunday. I'm looking to run it at marathon goal pace. I need more of those runs. I know I'll be running it on my own, but it would be nice to run at the same time that someone else is running. That would be a big help. I'm thinking I'll go to Riverview. I seem to really like running there for some reason.
First Run 4 miles - 30:32 (7:38 pace)
Second Run 6 miles - 44:37 (7:26 pace)
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