Today was simply a day to get it done. The plan was to run 11 miles, so I could get 65 for the week. The trick was finding time. Since Kristin didn't meet me in the morning, I didn't get up to run early. Instead, I ran in between sessions of wrestling. I decided to go to SteelStacks to start my run.
It was a fairly decent weather day. The starting area had a killer wind. It always does there. I was comfortable most of the rest of the run, even along the Lehigh River. I wore my shell with short sleeves. I also had on shorts.
I was thinking of running a loop, mostly on pavement. I headed out and decided I'd go over the Hill to Hill Bridge. Rather than running around town, I elected to go northbound on the D&L Trail. I was going to run around the old industrial area first, but forgot to do that.
After looping off the bridge, I got to the D&L at Sand Island. This is some stone and some dirt. I was on there early spring one year, so I knew it would be a mess. If it got too messy, I'd turn around. I got on the trail just before mile 2.
It was definitely sloppy and a mess, especially on the first mile as I headed toward the Allentown Canal Park. I saw a couple walking early, but most of the route was on my own. The legs didn't feel too bad on pavement. I was slow, but not hurting. The soft trail messed with me early on though. My lower leg and back hurt. I trotted on.
I saw a few geese, but was glad they moved out of the way. I always worry they might attack me. I try to give them plenty of room. They were fine. I worried about the way back.
I tried to run wherever the best footing was. Often, that was the grass in the middle of the two tracks. Going out was kind of uneventful. It was a flowing river on one side and the canal and train tracks on the other.
Originally, I was thinking 2.5 miles would be good. Then, my body started to feel better. I went to mile 3 and on toward mile 3.5. I kept talking myself into another half mile.
I knew the more I went out, the less I'd have left when I got back. I thought mile 4 would be good and was finally going to turn around. Then I came to some bikers going the other way. They looked slow and I thought I might have to pass them if I turned around at that point.
I just continued on. I figured 4.5 miles would be good. I was getting a little chilled. This would get me 9 miles when I got back. I couldn't resist though, I went another half mile.
Finally, I approached a dog walker just before mile 5. That was a good time to turn and head back. I was happy to be heading back, but realized I still wasn't even halfway through the run yet.
I just continued on and plugged away. I was trying to fight the boredom. I tried to only look at my watch every half mile. That made things better, but it didn't last. Getting to mile 6 and then especially mile 7 was great.
The trail was getting sloppier as I went. I thought about my total weekly mileage and that seemed to help too. I kept repeating something about mile 62 when I was going toward that point. I hit that a little before Sand Island.
I got by the geese cleanly again. There was a guy hiking with a pack. Then, I saw some more people near Sand Island. Very few people were out at all.
I wanted to kind of loop around. However, I didn't want to go over 11 miles, so I went back the way I came. I struggled a lot when I got back on pavement. Going uphill to the Hill to Hill Bridge was tough.
Normally, I take my watch off with a mile to go. Today, I decided to do it at two miles to go. I cruised along very slowly now. In fact, coming down the Hill to Hill Bridge, I was startled. A young Lehigh girl ran right past me. She wasn't even running that fast, but I was a slug at this point.
I ran back toward SteelStacks. It was great to finally get there and have just a mile left. However, I was going so slow. I just kept moving.
I went out and looped around a parking lot near the Sands. Coming back was into the headwind and very cold. I was sputtering, but finished the day and the big week at my car.
It wasn't a pretty week, but I'm glad I got the job done. I pushed through a lot of crappy days. I hit mile goal mileage. Now, maybe I'll back off a little bit again.
Tomorrow, I'd love to hit some trails. It would be the 7th straight day of running. I want to run the Golden Eagle Trail near the ES100 course. I don't know if I'll have the energy to drive all the way up there though.
10.99 miles - 1:43:20 (9:24 pace) 55 feet of elevation gain
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