I never do have a fixed running plan these days. However, I at least have an idea of what I want to do the day of. For today, I decided on a few hill sprints in the evening at South Mountain (Lehigh). I had a bunch of curveballs today, but simply plugged away.
I got there in the evening. I was unsure if I should even go out, as it looked like it was about to storm. I went anyway. It was fairly comfortable. I wore a singlet to start and planned to take it off for the repeats, but that didn't happen either.
When I was recently at South Mountain, I found a gnarly, steep hill that seemed good for hill repeats. For some reason, I thought it was off of the lower road, but it wasn't. I ran down to that and hit a dead end. Then, I had to climb back up to the upper road, between buildings. I went through some high grass and was worried a little about ticks.
I finally didn't find the trail I was looking for. It was actually very close to my car. Instead, I had looked all around the Mountaintop Campus. The start of this trail is kind of hard to find. I began running downhill. This was tough though. It is just too steep and too rocky. It is also overgrown in spots and there was what looked like topsoil on the trail. I was sliding all over that, with the recent rain.
I thought about hiking back up and not doing a second repeat. Instead, I picked my way down the hill and on to the main trail. I'd just run there. It is a fun singletrack anyway.
I figured I'd run down the switchbacking section that I ran in the winter some nights. Then, maybe I'd do repeats there. I had a lot of fun descending. So much so, that I decided to just keep following the trail. In the winter, it ended at some logs that I had to climb over. Now, I could follow it more easily.
I thought things were going good, as I was gradually switchbacking up the hill. I figured I'd be making a long loop. I got near the trees and was running over a wooden mountain bike structure and it happened. I felt a sharp sting in my calf. I knew immediately it was a bee. I yelled a little and tried to run on.
I couldn't run though. Every impact with the ground hurt too much. I ended the run and turned off my watch. It was time to hike back after a short day. The problem was, I didn't know how to get back. I was not going to retrace my steps over the potential nest and get stung again. I was out on a service road where they are doing construction. I simply following that, as it descended. However, I had no way of getting back to the trail.
I was afraid of where the road would come out to and I was correct. It was on the east side of the mountain. I didn't know how to get back on the trail and it was a long way back on the road.
I know there's a dead end circle near part of the trail, but I'm not quite sure where it is. I was probably close, but I didn't want to snoop around too much. I gradually climbed around the side of the mountain. I took a road that I wasn't even sure would go through, but it did.
I ended up on the South Side of Bethlehem. This is not the best neighborhood to be in. I was running some flat to downhill. I still had so far to run back. I kept changing streets, until I was on 4th Street.
I knew the road up the mountain was Hayes Street. I ran out to that and finally found it. It was good to know where I truly was, except now I had a lot of climbing ahead of me.
This was just a long grind up Hayes Street and then Mountain Drive. It wasn't steep by mountain standards, but it is an impressive climb by road standards. Being that it is a road, I was able to be steady and gradually get up it. My breathing labored, but I kept pushing. I was uncomfortable on Mountain Drive, so I wanted to get up in as quickly as possible.
After the overlook, I knew I was most of the way up. The lungs were starting to burn though. I had to keep running, as long as I could. It still went uphill, but flattened out a little while later. It was a gradual climb from then on out. I got into the Mountaintop Campus and steadily went back to my car.
I ended up doing a lot more miles than I hoped. I also ran on the roads too much. However, I did get a great workout, thanks to the big hill climb. I also made the most of the situation. I survived the bee sting and ran again.
Tomorrow, I'm hoping to run more. Perhaps I'll go to Tammany. Two loops there would be nice. Sometime, I need to check out a new place, like maybe Sourland Mountain.
Pre Sting 2.62 miles - 34:30 (11:40 pace) 170 feet of elevation gain
Post Sting 4.1 miles - 36:19 (8:52 pace) 683 feet of elevation gain
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