I ended up needing Sunday to recover. I took off. I planned to run yesterday, but the cold and rainy weather had me unmotivated. Today, was more frustration. I was headed to Royersford and wanted to do a trail run. However, I worked too late. I had to stick to the Schuylkill River Trail.
I wanted to wear a short sleeve shirt, but I didn't have one packed apparently. Instead, I put on a light weight long sleeve shirt. That worked okay on this gloomy day, along with my shorts. It was raining a bit on the way down, but luckily, not really during the run. If anything, it was a slight drizzle.
I found a trailhead on the other side of Spring City. I guess this is the end of that section. A few cars were parked there. I headed on out. It was stone, so I wasn't crazy about that. It went through a couple field type areas and a road crossing. My legs felt okay, but definitely not great.
I wasn't too up for the run, so I just planned 3.5 miles out and then back. Doing 7 miles would be enough for today, especially considering my time constraints. I needed to eat before the game too.
It didn't take long until I was grateful I made that choice. This trail should've been called the Schuylkill Powerline Trail. There was no river to be seen in the beginning. I was just running along an ugly powerline.
The first awful, boring mile took forever. I could not believe I had 2.5 more before turning around. This trail made me really appreciate my rail trails back home.
I finally did see the Schuylkill River through the trees. It was far down though. On the other side of the trail was a wall with a fence on top. That was so the rock behind it didn't fall on to the trail. This part was pretty terrible too.
Things didn't get any better as I left there. I was running through a tunnel of nothingness. There were earthen banks on both sides and the giant powerline too. Eventually, I went by an old power plant. There was a field on the other side that was almost cool.
A group of high school kids were walking the other way. This was a nice distraction from the terrible scenery. That was somewhere around 2.5 miles. I was thrilled to get to Spring City itself not long after that. At least I knew where I was.
I decided to go over the river and in to Royersford. That would be slightly better. The trail kind of ends there. I passed a few walkers. At least there were some apartment buildings. There was traffic too, so I could watch cars.
I ran by the apartments. Then, it was up the hill and over some train tracks. I hit 3.5 miles at an intersection. I turned and headed back, watching the traffic.
I continued to run along by the apartments. Two semi cute women ran by the other way. I could've used some eye candy on the boring stretch coming up. I crossed the river again and headed over to Spring City.
I ran on to the terrible section. At least this time, I was heading back. I couldn't wait to get to mile 5. I tried looking in the woods as a distraction. Everything is dead and the sky was gloomy too. I checked my watch over and over and over again.
Around the powerplant, I saw the high school kids again. After this point, I started to push slightly. I wanted to be done. I checked the watch and saw the pace drop. I actually took my watch off with 2 miles to go.
I thought there was more uphill coming back, but there was some down. I cruised along. I really picked it up more and more, along the river part. I saw a guy in a trucker hat. I tried to read it, as I figured he was a trail runner.
I began to calculate the pace in my head. It was well under 8:30, as I headed into the final mile. I pushed and pushed. I wanted to get done under 58 minutes now.
The last road crossing threw me off. A couple cars forced me to stop there. That killed the momentum and slowed that final mile down. It was still a speedy 7:16. It would've been very close to 7 minutes without the stoppage.
I ran to the end of the path. As I finished a woman was coming. Two more were at the parking lot, about to start. I could've used them as a distraction for sure. One car in the lot had trail running stickers. I'm guessing it belonged to the guy with the trucker hat on.
I didn't go far and I hated the run. That was due to the trail though. I did run fairly well and faster than I have lately. At some point, I'll need to start running fast again. It was good to hit the gas pedal a little today.
Tomorrow, I'll run again. I'm not sure where or how far. A trail run would be nice. It does look like this will be a lighter week than recent weeks. My body could probably use that though.
7.04 miles - 57:48 (8:13 pace) 134 feet of elevation gain
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