This weekend was disappointing. Not only did I cut Saturday's run way short, but I didn't even run at all Sunday. I felt weak and not recovered from Saturday. What I hoped to be a big weekend turned into a dud. I decided not to run yesterday either, as some rain came through.
I finally got back out there today. We had wicked thunderstorms today too though. It was cloudy, but looked like it would clear up after dinner. I headed into Jersey to run at Merrill Creek. I wanted an easy run and haven't been there in awhile.
It was somewhat comfortable out, when I started at 6 PM. I went with a singlet instead of no shirt. I was drenched by the end. I should've just went shirtless.
Normally, I park in the main lot. This time, I decided that I would park in the back lot between two of the dams. I thought starting at a different spot could make the run more interesting. I also decided to run the loop counterclockwise, rather than clockwise.
There was a mother and son fishing when I pulled into the lot, but no one else. Not a single boat or kayak was on the water. I mostly had the place to myself.
The run began with a short section over the dam. Then, it was into the woods. The rocks were slippery and it was quite muddy. I don't know why I didn't think it would be as muddy as it was. It did rain a lot.
The trail is pretty wide in the beginning. After about a mile though, it narrows and becomes a little tricky. It is still pretty nontechnical and fun. I cruised along. I ate not long before the run and didn't quite feel great early on. My legs weren't strong either and I felt like I was working more than I should be.
I did enjoy the singletrack though. I got to the second dam in no time. I usually run on top of the dams. This time, I decided to follow the trail down along the bottom and back up. This was a bit of a mistake. It was pretty narrow and steep going down. I was slipping a little and eventually had to walk.
Then, there was the climb back up. That seemed to take forever. It was about 300 feet up. I had be running a sub 10 minute per mile pace up to that point, but this hike up killed my pace. I thought maybe I never went down this dam, but it is indeed the steepest one and I've gone to the bottom once before.
I don't like the stone path much, but it was better to be on that then the slippery singletrack around the dam. I came across some dog walkers after popping out of the woods. When I got to the 3rd dam, I decided to run over top of it. This one wasn't as steep if would've taken the bottom.
I saw another person walking as I hit main parking lot. I was over 3.5 miles now and doing okay. It did seem like the trail kept going up for some reason. I was just so sluggish.
I continued to follow the perimeter trail. I was excited because I now knew that it was mostly singletrack to the finish. At one point, I lost the trail markings, as it only showed green. I went left and was over a rocky section that I recalled. I knew I was on the right track.
I headed along some grass and seemed like I was still going uphill. I then saw some deer. It was neat, as it was a mother and two babies. The babies ran away first. Then, the mother watched me before taking off.
I was enjoying some downhill singletrack now. It was quite rocky, so I had to be careful. The rocks were quite slippery and I did slide every now and then. I looked forward to getting to the foot bridge. After some downhill, I was there.
Following that was a ridge section with some roots. I had to be careful. Roots can be even more slippery than rocks. I slid at least once.
I was cruising through here. I knew I'd push a bit once I got out of the technical section. I saw the dam, but seemed like it took awhile to get there. Finally, I was out in the clear.
There is a fourth dam and then an open field type section. I picked up the pace over that. I wanted to finish the loop under and hour and I knew I would. I almost got my pace under 10 minutes per mile, as I finished up. I was happy to be done.
I'll probably sneak in another short run tomorrow. I'm going to Musikfest in the evening, so I can't go too far. I have no idea where I'll go. Maybe I'll head near there, to South Mountain (Lehigh). I won't be running too much the rest of this week or this weekend, but I will try to get some stuff done.
5.71 miles - 57:29 (10:04 pace) 558 feet of elevation gain
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