Gary set up a group run at Jacobsburg at 5 PM today. I've rarely run with groups there, so I figured why not go. I'm always up for a trail run too. The plan was for the usual 6 mile loop. I decided that I would do more.
The weather wasn't too bad, but I still knew I'd be hot. I ran shirtless as usual. I was almost chilly a little later on.
We headed out on the flat path along the creek. It was Gary, Angie, Tom, D.J., Mike, Krissa and myself. Gary and I stared at the front, nice and slow and we were chatting about marathons and such.
We then turned to start heading up to the road crossing. Gary fell back a little. I just tried to keep the same pace up this gradual uphill. No one went with me though. I wasn't planning to run hard. I just wanted to be consistent.
I felt pretty good in this early going. Mile 1 was a solid 9:09. One nice thing is that I've run this course so many times that I know just how to run it.
It was still early and I was already pretty far ahead. I had wished that someone ran with me. If they did, I definitely would've slowed so that they could stay with me. Instead, I enjoyed the short climbs on my own.
There is this short, but steep hill along the section with 3 road crossings. I remember when I used to find this hill challenging. Now, I just breeze over it. There was a downed tree that I had to leap over at one of these parts. I saw a mountain biker shortly after that and warned him.
I enjoyed the flat and downhill before the powerline climb. I was wondering if I'd see the group behind me in the powerline clearing and sure enough I did. I was probably ahead of them by over a quarter mile at that point.
I tried to just be slow and steady up the powerline. I made it up without issue, other than a little heavy breathing. Even this mile was a solid 9:05. I know this part is tough, but it really helps to know that I can just fly from this point on. I was very happy be approaching an 8:30 overall pace.
I didn't open it up, but I cruised downhill on this wide open part of the run. I ran a solid 8:10 and then followed that up with a 7:37. Instead of staying on the main route, I took the fun singletrack along the creek. That had slowed me, but not too much. It added a little distance too.
Of course, I'd be running quick the rest of the way to the road. The road was fast as well. My times got faster and faster. Instead of taking the path right back to the parking lot, I decided to climb the hill and add some distance.
Even with this hill at the end, mile 6 was a 7:44. I still wasn't really pushing either. I can't say it was completely easy, but it wasn't challenging.
After the climb, it was on to the fun ridge section. This can be dangerous when you are tired. It is my favorite section though as it is narrow singletrack with a steep dropoff and lots of fun roots to climb over and around. I was hoping someone was running with me, so I could introduce them to this section if they had never run this part. The only thing I don't like about it is that people often hike there. I came across no one today.
I then got back onto open path. Mile 7, including some of the ridge part, was still a fast 7:47. When things opened up, I cruised a bit. I was around an 8:10 overall pace. That is much faster than I usually run here. I was hoping that if I got back quick enough, some people would still be hanging out after they were done.
I passed Chris H, who started the loop on his own at 6 PM. I was nearly done with my first segment. I stopped at the end of the path with an 8:10 pace for 7.67 miles.
Angie, Tom and D.J. were hanging out and chatting. I dried off and drank some water and talked for a few minutes. Once they left, I took off again.
The plan this time was to run the open field loop at the top. That would get to me to about 11 miles total. The break helped a little, but I also was a bit stiff. I ran around some young guys in the beginning.
The toughest part of this section is the long gradual climb. I just took it easy up the climb. My goal was to just try to keep running. Knowing how long the climb was definitely helped. I passed a guy hiking and later a woman doing the same.
I was slow and breathing heavy by the end of the climb. The first mile of this segment had been an 8:15. Even the slow 8:35 on the uphill mile only increased my overall pace to 8:14.
I was so happy to get to the top. I was also happy that the sun was nearly setting and it wasn't too hot. Going into this loop, I figured I'd be much slower. However, I knew I'd fly down the second half of this loop and I did.
Three mountain bikers came by in the other direction. One had on a GoPro. That was cool. This flat and downhill mile was a 7:31. I watched my overall pace get faster and faster.
I came to the end and saw a police dirt bike. That was interesting and two police SUVs arrived too. I'm not sure what they were doing. I got to mile 11 pretty much right at the end of the trail. My pace was now 8:09. I was amazed at how fast this segment was.
I decided to run the beginning of the route for a short bit. I ran 3.85 miles earlier in the week, so I figured I'd add .15 miles to this run. I finished up with a nice time and feeling good.
I liked the group setting of this run. Even though I ran alone, I still ended up moving kind of fast. I sure didn't push hard either. I'm pretty sure that this is far and away the fastest I've ever run at Jacobsburg. I am amazed by that, since I ran double digit miles. Any trail run is a good run.
Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm doing. Angie said she is meeting Bob in the morning. I might try to get out for that run. We shall see. One thing that is for sure, I'm feeling very good after keeping my running light over the last few weeks. I'll probably pick my mileage back up next week, but I still don't want to force anything.
11.15 miles - 1:30:53 (8:09 pace)
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