After the Trexler full loop run yesterday, I wasn't sure what to do today. I wanted to run fast, but didn't get around to it. Instead, I headed out to Jacobsburg in the evening for 10 miles.
Yesterday evening was very nice. Tonight, was semi cool, but it was very humid in comparison. I ran shirtless as usual and was dripping with sweat by the end. This summer hasn't been as bad as it could be, but I can't wait for it to be over.
The body felt decent after yesterday. I wasn't going to run hard tonight, but I did have to hurry, because I didn't have a lot of daylight to get 10 miles in. I started right around 7 PM.
I went out and did my usual loop. The beginning was uneventful. I came across some horse crap. There was a lot of it throughout the trail. I ran pretty easy.
I struggled mildly with the short climbs. It was mainly due to the humidity. It made my breathing labored slightly.
As I was running the technical section before the road crossings, I ran into some mountain bikers. Luckily, I saw a big group later on, but they were resting for a minute. I was surprised because in the early part of the run, I saw 3 people trail running. I rarely see anyone trail running at Jacobsburg. It is always just hiking and mountain biking.
After the road crossing, I came to the powerline cut area. I was startled as a groundhog ran out about 4 feet in front of me across the trail. Wildlife was everywhere today.
I took it easy and was breathing a little heavy up the powerline climb. I don't enjoy this part, but I always look forward to the downhill after that. It is a lot of fun. I cruised down that and ran by a couple that was walking.
Rather than continue on the loop, when I got to pedestrian bridge, I made a right. I went to the fun singletrack along the creek. I wanted to add some distance. I came out and was past a woman with her dog that was walking earlier. I was glad for that.
I encountered a deer on the wide path. It stood and stared at me and then took off into the woods. Later on, I saw a second deer. It is funny because I ran about 500-1,000 miles in this park without seeing a deer. Now, in the last 200 miles or so, I've seen about 15-20 of them.
Originally, I planned to run up into the open field section after the normal 6 mile loop. I figured that that would be better as it was getting darker. However, I don't like that section and just didn't feel like climbing any.
I decided to run the fun singletrack section along both sides of Sober's Run. I figured that that would get me about an additional mile and a half and I'd probably be at around 8.5 miles when I got back to the car.
That was a good decision and a lot of fun. The legs got kind of sore on the wide stone trails in the park, but the dirt singletrack was much more forgiving. It was awesome.
It wasn't long and I was out to the road. I had to run on there and it was tough as dusk was quickly approaching. Cars had on their lights now. I arrived back at my car over 8.5 miles.
The plan was to run a short out and back on the main path. I did that and had a little climbing. I went past some people. It was getting super dark in there, thanks to the tree cover. Luckily, there are few rocks, because I could barely see a thing.
I made sure to let the people know I was coming back as I passed them. I didn't want to scare them in the near darkness. I couldn't see my watch, so I ended with a little over 10 miles.
It was a solid run and I'm just loving trails so much now. I'll going to run on those a lot more now the rest of the summer and into the fall. I can't wait to do more ultras.
Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm doing. If I'm not working and the weather is good, I might go to the Little League World Series and then run some of the trails up there too. The team from Philly plays. If I don't make it up there, maybe I'll run twice. If so, I'd do a track workout for sure.
10.04 miles - 1:28:28 (8:49 pace)
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