Kelley and I talked about running earlier in the week, but her baby was sick, so we didn't meet up. After hearing about an incident on the Nor-Bath Trail, she decided she wanted some company to run with this morning. That worked great for me because I was planning on running twice anyway.
We agreed to meet up at Cementon to run the D&L. That way we could get 7 miles in. She arrived a little late and a couple women came to run right before us. I thought one was Colleen at first. We didn't know them though.
The plan was simply 3.5 miles out and back. It seemed like a perfect day. At first, I was going to run with long sleeves, but it felt too warm for that. I went with short sleeves instead. It wasn't a terrible decision, but the first half of the run ended up being chilly with a slight breeze in our face.
My legs weren't great, but they weren't too bad either as I started. I seemed to have some early trouble with breathing, even though the pace wasn't quick. Maybe it is because I'm not used to running so early in the morning.
Once I got comfortable, the run went by quickly. The women came back pretty early. We cruised along around an 8:40 pace. It was good to get to the turnaround. That was just before the Cove Road Trailhead.
We had a good conversation. We chatted about our youth, among other things. The miles flew by. The second half of the run went by quickly. We were going slightly downhill.
We finished up at just over an hour. The pace was a little over 8:30 pace. It was a productive run and a good way to recover from a few big days. I'll need morning runs like this a couple times a week if I want to run the mileage that I'd like to achieve.
One of the people from the BCR asked if anyone wanted to run at Penn Pump in the evening. That was right up my alley for a second run of the day. I'm not great with getting up for the early Saturday runs, but evening runs I can always do.
I got there early and Jennie and Bob had their C25K group together. I forgot that they were going to be there. I took off toward Easton. I had time to get 3 miles in before the main part of the group got started. I figured I would end up going slightly past the Crayola Factory.
The legs felt great and I was cruising to start. I felt so fast. I still was taking it fairly easy. Running sub 8 minute pace was no problem. It was quite warm out. The temperature has really risen this week.
I got to Crayola and was barely over a mile. I didn't want to run up the Hackett's Park hill, so I headed along Bushkill Drive. That had some nice downhill to start.
As I got near some apartments, I realized that I could run behind them on the nature trail. I had forgotten about that. I was a little past halfway when I reached that point. It was good to not have to run on the road.
I ran past a few people with dogs. One was a fat, old one. It looked almost like a black pig. I was through mile 2 in no time and nearly done with this first short run. I finished up at mile 2 with a 7:19.
I met the rest of the group shortly after finishing. The plan was to run in the same direction as I had just done. I thought we might end up going the other way.
The run started off nice and slow. I figured that I'd run with everyone for awhile. I was in no real rush. I was just looking to get miles in. Ryan and I went slightly ahead of the rest of the group. Then they started to catch up to us.
I wasn't sure which way we were going. Then I found out that we were taking the Hackett's Park hill. I can't stand running hills slowly, so I took off. By the time I got to the top and turned around, everyone was very far behind. I didn't want to stop and wait or turn around and have to run up it again.
I decided to just keep going on my own. I knew there would be another hill to come yet too. It was nice to cruise downhill and over the Route 22 Bridge. Right past the bridge, there were 7 deer just standing in the grass of a park.
I hammered up the next hill as I headed toward the bakery. The pace was slow in the beginning, but I now was running sub 8 minute miles. Originally, I was going to turn around at mile 3, but then I figured I could go out another half mile.
I didn't want to cross William Penn Highway, so I headed through the Easton High School parking lot. I turned around right at the track/lacrosse field. Their team was practicing and blasting music. That was a good pick me up.
I cruised alone back to the start. I hit mile 4 and kept going. I knew the uphill past Route 22 would be quite difficult. As I was approaching the pedestrian bridge, I saw Jessica and Stephen up ahead. That was motivating for me to push some more.
I caught them partway up the long hill and cruised by. I guess I wasn't really cruising, because I pushed quite hard. I watched the pace of that mile. Initially, it was around a 7:30 going up the hill. I was curious to see how much it would drop going downhill.
I caught and passed Dave at Hackett's Park. I opened it up and flew downhill. I ran past Ryan as well. The pace of this mile dropped all the way down to 6:42. That means the second half of this mile must've been slightly under 6 minute pace.
I relaxed a little on the flat last mile. I passed a guy and his daughter coming the other way. I recognized them because they often run the LVRR Summer Series 5ks. I looked at the pace of this final mile and saw that it was slightly over 7 minutes. I decided to pick it up in the final four tenths. I got that mile down to a 6:47. It was a nice way to close out the run.
We met up for dinner at Wegman's afterward. That was fun too. I'm amazed that my legs and body aren't more beat up. I'm now up to 67 for the week. I'll back off a bit tomorrow. I'm only running 7 miles. I hope to get onto trails and run at Jacobsburg too. Then, I'll have a 10k on Saturday to push me over 80 miles for the week.
AM run 7 miles - 1:00:21 (8:37 pace)
PM run Part 1 3 miles - 22:45 (7:36 pace)
PM run Part 2 7 miles - 53:47 (7:41 pace)
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