I got about 3 hours of sleep, so I cancelled my run with Kristin this morning. I really regretted that when I stepped out the door and felt the heat and humidity. I caught up with sleep in the afternoon and headed out to run 7 miles in the evening.
I decided to run somewhere different. I opted to give Plainfield another try. It is probably my least favorite place to run. Rather than run the usual close section, I headed out to a trailhead farther down. I was happy to find it.
As I arrived, there was a rooster walking around and eating grass. That is sure something you don't see every day. I guess he must live nearby. It was interesting. This area is very rural. The parking lot was crowded. Some woman had 3 small kids and a dog. I said to her, "that looks like hard work."
Since it was quite humid and still around 80 degrees, I went shirtless. I was a bit hot, but I've had worse days. At least almost all of this trail is shaded. The sun was beginning to set. I was soaked by the end of the run, but I'm used to it.
The start was awful and I was quickly reminded how much I hate this trail. It was slow and a real struggle. The surface is bumpy paved stone. I find it very annoying. I also guess I must've been going slightly uphill. The first mile was a terrible 8:22.
I had run the beginning part of this section or at least biked this far before, but I was close to as far as I'd gone. Things got worse before they got better. I did get slightly faster, but not as much as usual. Mile 2 was an 8:08.
After crossing Grand Central Road, I was on to a section I've never been to. This part was stone. It went around the landfill. This section was tough. First, it was small stone. Then, it shifted uphill and was bigger stones. I had run that part before. It was rolling hills and mostly uphill. It was very tough.
I just battled the small hills. I was losing pace. I knew I'd turn around at 2.5 miles. Finally, I hit the end of the trail and ran very briefly on the road, to get to 2.5 miles.
This section still sucked coming back. At least it was mostly downhill. I felt like I could've used trail shoes for it. I don't think I'll ever run this part again. I did it once before, when I started from that end. I don't remember it being so hard.
It was great when I finally got back to the regular stone. The hills had slowed me big time. Mile 3 was a terrible 8:28.
Things improved like crazy as I headed back toward the car. It was now a nice downhill and suddenly the legs felt awesome. I was finally cruising and enjoying myself. Mile 4 was a 7:40.
I continued to cruise down the slight downhill. My overall pace was getting faster and faster. I knew I'd be back at the car soon. I was catching a woman running, but she stopped and drank. I got back to the car after passing the rooster at mile 5. That mile was a 7:11.
I headed the other direction now. This seemed downhill for awhile, but then it did get a little tough. I passed a guy who was running slow, the other way. There were a few bikers and walkers out too.
I got out a mile and turned around. That mile was a 7:27. I now pushed it on the way back. The final mile probably had some uphill, but I was going a bit harder. My pace had actually been around 8:20 after the big hilly section earlier, now it was under 7:50.
I passed the slow guy near the finish. I flew on in. The last mile was another 7:11. It was good to be done and at least the finish was much better than the start.
I wasn't excited about this run, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I'm stuck going to Syracuse, so on the way back, I'm heading to Ithaca. They have some gorge trails that just look amazing. It might be the coolest place that I've ever run. I'm more excited for that than the upcoming marathon. After that, I need to rest on Thursday. Maybe I'll bike or loosen up the legs with some drills.
7 miles - 54:26 (7:47 pace)
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