Yesterday afternoon's run was super hot and humid. Today, it was cloudy and cool. It was basically a 20 degree difference when I headed out. Not much of a chance to adapt to the heat.
My parents wanted to go out to dinner, so I kind of had a tight late afternoon window to work with. I got to Mill Race Park after 3 PM. I was hoping to at least run 10 miles and maybe stretch it to 12 miles.
I haven't been over there in awhile. I couldn't quite remember how far the route was. I decided to first head out toward Tatamy. That direction is much shorter and I could get it out of the way.
I was still slightly sore from yesterday. The beginning of this run certainly wasn't fast and I didn't feel sharp. In fact, I had some chafing problems from yesterday that slowed me down today. I was hoping they wouldn't get worse, or I might have to quit.
I went out to Tatamy and noticed that the one stone section of the trail is now paved. That is great and I'm glad for that. That is particularly awesome for biking on this trail. I went out to the end of the trail and it was just over a mile into the run.
I cruised along back. With the soreness from chafing, the first 3 miles were slow. They were all over 8 minutes. I got back to my car and was getting a little hot. I was slightly over 2 miles at that point. I decided to just run shirtless. That worked out much better. I was still sweating, but not too bad.
I went back out and headed south, on the main part of the trail. It was beautiful with all the leaves on the trees and the creek alongside. I wish I felt better. My chafing problem did seem to go away after a few miles, or I got used to it.
There were a few people on the trail, but it wasn't too crowded. Maybe the threat of rain kept some of them away. I did encounter a couple runners too. It wasn't long before I was at Crayola and near the end of the trail.
I decided to keep going and run until I at least got to mile 5. I knew that I would be adding on to this run at the end. I figured that the full route would give me about 8 miles. I went on the road a bit and then turned around.
At the end of the trail, there is a singletrack through the woods. I went out on that about a tenth of a mile or two. I then headed back. I hit mile 5.5 very soon after that.
Going back seemed kind of challenging for my legs. They sure weren't sharp. I thought they would feel better than this at this point in the week. I kept going over the road crossings.
There is an option to take another short pavement segment. This has some rolling hills and adds about a half mile to the run. It is nice and scenic. I ran there and went back. I put in my third sub 7:30 mile at this point. I came out with about 2 miles left.
Before long, I was back at Mill Race Park. I needed almost a full mile yet, to get to mile 10. I ran back out toward Tatamy. Before the road crossing into Tatamy, I turned around and headed back. I finished at the park with a 7:23 mile. It was a solid run.
I still wanted more mileage. Therefore, I headed back out after dark. The plan was to run 5 easy miles around my neighborhoods. It has got quite chilly, so I wore a long sleeve shirt.
I started with a loop around my neighborhood. I had rolled up my sleeves, but then I decided to pull them down. At least I could sort of try some heat adapting.
There was quite a bit of mist out. Since I ended the first loop in front of my house, I decided to get my new visor to keep the rain out of my face. That worked good.
I went down the the elementary school. There were two women and they were walking like five dogs. One of the dogs followed me, but had a toy in its mouth and didn't do anything. I was glad for that, since I wasn't sure. They certainly didn't expect to encounter people after dark.
I decided that I would run the Blue Eagle 5k course. This was nice and slow and comfortable. I wanted to do this run to break in my new shoes. I bought a great pair of shoes in December. I tried to get the same pair in March, but I ended up with an older model. I didn't like those, so I went back to the newer model this time. They worked great.
I did have some minor initial soreness. As I got used to the shoes, my legs began to feel awesome. I love new shoes.
I also enjoy night running and had fun, even with some light rain. The miles were quite slow, so they seemed to take awhile. It was good to get to 2.5 miles and then mile 3.
I headed back toward home. There were quite a few cars to avoid. I figured that my reflective vest and headlamp were good though.
I got toward the end of the 5k course loop and then headed out on another short loop. I normally run this one the other way, but today I decided to run it in reverse. This was a good way to add distance. I actually ended up hitting mile 5 and finished up just before the school.
I'm not sure what I'm doing tomorrow. I want to run hard at some point. We are supposed to get some rain. I may have to run twice again. I'm also meeting someone for a bike ride in the evening, if the weather is still good. I'd love to put in 12-17 miles.
Afternoon Run - 10 miles - 1:18:30 (7:51 pace)
Night Run - 5 miles - 41:43 (8:21 pace)
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