Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Standard Night Loop

As usual, I was slacking over the last few days.  I had three straight days of no running.  I got out there tonight after dark.  While I'm not enjoying running right now, I do kind of like night running.  The pavement I could do without.

The plan tonight was just to run the basic long loop around the neighborhoods.  I figured it would be about 5 miles.  My Garmin showed me way over that, but it probably wasn't correct.  The first mile was definitely off.

Thankfully, it was much more chilly tonight than lately.  I wore the usual attire, a lightweight jacket and shorts.  I hate wearing my visor, but my headlamp doesn't stay up well otherwise.  I was chilly at first, but then a little hot later.  My visor definitely made me hotter.  I might have to work on adjusting the headlamp and not wearing the visor.

I started out at my house and headed across the highway to the other neighborhood.  I went nice and slow, almost ultra pace.  I ate less than an hour before the 6 PM run, so I had to take it easy.

I just ran along.  Since I knew exactly the route I wanted to take, I didn't even bother to look at my watch.  I thought about some things related to my run and some things related to life.

It wasn't long before I was going up the first big gradual hill.  I cruised up that.  There were quite a few cars out, since it was still early in the evening.  Some walkers and dog walkers were out too.

I went over to do the small neighborhood loop too.  This was pretty easy because I took it easy.  With the air a little cold, breathing wasn't the easiest thing.  It was very manageable though.  I passed some walkers at the top.

Then, I was back to the other loop.  I figured I was probably around 3 miles now, but I didn't want to look at my watch.  I thought about not looking at all.  My pace and distance really didn't matter.

One nice thing is that with no running in the last three days, I felt fresh.  I still can't totally shake my sore foot from the spring.  I'd think with less miles now, I wouldn't feel it at all.  It doesn't bother me, but I can still slightly feel the tenderness in that area.  Maybe I'll need full rest for it to go away.

In no time, I was to the 2 mile point of the old Blue Eagle 5K course.  The marker is still there.  I didn't want to look at my watch, but I couldn't help it.  I was surprised to see that it said 4.4 miles.  I figured there was no way I went that far or was running a sub 8 minute pace.  I was barely moving.  Looking at the data now, I think the first mile was messed up.

Really, it didn't matter.  I just continued to run along.  I got back to the school and finished up like I was running the Blue Eagle 5K.  I kept going and got to my house.  I could've run to mile 6, but there wasn't much point.  I just finished at the driveway.

I definitely should get back on some trails sometimes soon, even if it is just Jacobsburg.  These short, night runs are about all I can muster though.  I wanted to hit some D&L Trail today, but couldn't get myself to do so.  Some running is better than no running I guess.  It would be nice if my hunger would come back.

5.73 miles - 45:19 (7:54 pace) 99 feet of elevation gain  NOT ACCURATE DATA

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