I felt pretty good after the 50K on Saturday. Really, I could've run yesterday. However, I took off and went to the Eagles game. I took a nap, instead of running in the afternoon. I had to get out at night then.
It was a cold evening. The temperature was below 30 degrees with some wind chill. I wore tights and a ColdGear top. I added my fleece vest over top of that. I'm not sure if that was needed. I also had a gloves on and a headband. I ended up taking the headband off because it was too hot. I also opened my vest.
The start was tough. My eyes were watering from the cold. That made it hard to see. The beginning was downhill and rocky, so that was difficult as well. I had to borrow my dad's headlamp and I didn't figure out how to put it on the brightest setting until I got home. The beam seemed narrow too. I was able to get by with the situation, but I had to be cautious and slow.
The early uphill was a bit challenging. It went on longer than I expected. Still, I had to run it all. After things flattened out and I hit the next climb, I decided to hike some of that. I knew I could run it, but didn't want to push too much.
This was somewhat fun. It would've been better if I could've seen better. However, I'm glad I know the loop so well. I didn't miss any turns.
I then crossed the road and hit the downhill switchback section. That was somewhat fun. It was rocky too, but I survived. I knew that this was the hardest part.
I didn't want to add the shorter loop, so I ran on to the road. I got to the lookout. A Lehigh cop car was in the area. I waited for him to go by before I got back on to the trails.
I was now into the fun, gradual uphill section. The rocks were somewhat tough to see this time. At least I didn't fall. One part of the trail along this ridge was wet. That could be interesting later in the winter. Everywhere else, the ground was frozen and crunchy. There wasn't any ice though. I love this kind of weather.
Near the end of the climb, I heard something run in the woods. I'm sure it was a deer. A bit later, I was on the paved section above there. I heard something run back down. I assume the same deer.
I was just over 4 miles when I arrived at the top. I had not wanted to do more mileage on this recovery run. I was having some chafing issues too. Therefore, I ran around the Mountaintop Campus to finish off the run.
I took a long loop on the pavement to do it. That gave me more mileage, as I got over 5 of them in. It also added some elevation gain. I saw a Lehigh cop car again, probably the same one. They paused for a bit, but didn't say anything to this crazy runner.
One of the reasons that I needed to get this run in is tomorrow's weather. It's supposed to be heavy rain, if not ice. Farther north, it will even snow. I may run a little anyway, but I'm not sure and I'm not counting on it.
5.01 miles - 55:14 (11:01 pace) 762 feet of elevation gain
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