Touring Easton

Friday runs are always my most difficult.  I just have no motivation to run them.  They are always my slowest, shortest and easiest runs of the week, so you wouldn't think they would be that bad.  I can focus on the key runs, it is the ones that seem useless that are difficult for me.  I'm almost always ready to go when I'm doing speedwork or the weekly long run.  Any slow group runs are fine too.  It is just this run that causes me trouble.

Thanks to Kelley wanting to do more miles yesterday, I kept this Friday run at 4 miles.  I sat around trying to decide if there was anywhere that I could run to make this more interesting.  Maybe I need to go back to the trails for this run since I can't really remember a bad day on trails.  I opted to head to Easton and run along the river.  I figured the scenery would help a bit.

By the time I got out there it was nearly noon and humid as hell again.  Of course I was soaked by the end of this run, especially because I was out in the open during so much of this run.  I didn't feel like paying for parking next to Scott Park, so I opted to cross the free bridge and park in New Jersey.  I found a big and empty lot just across the river.

I started off going over the bridge back into Easton.  I then headed north along the road until I got to the end of Riverside Park.  After that, I looped back under the bridge and ran right along the river.  I went through Scott Park after that and followed the Lehigh River past the dam. 

This section was relaxing because it reminded me of running along the river in Philadelphia (which I used to do almost day).  I did enjoy running there a lot and the scenery was great.  I just got sick of it day after day.

I wanted to incorporate some hills into this run, so my next challenge was great.  I ran up the very steep hill on Washington Street toward the Courthouse.  I was quickly huffing and puffing.  I told myself to just get to this one sign and I could turn around if needed.  Once I got there, the gradient wasn't nearly as bad and I kept going.  It was still a difficult incline, but the steepest part was the bottom.  I actually thought this hill would be more challenging than it was.  Hills often seem worse than they are.

At the top of the hill, I continued running west for a few blocks.  This neighborhood is a little shady, but I've been through much worse.  The hill was great as it allowed me to really focus.  It actually wasn't even a half mile long.  I thought it would be longer.  I had no plan while going through the neighborhood, so it was great to just make things up on the fly.

Eventually I decided to to turn and head north.  I generally knew where I was, but I'm not that familiar with each and every road in that area.  I noticed that I would have to run downhill and then a slight uphill again.  This wasn't nearly as bad as the other hill.

When I got to Northampton Street, I saw that I was at Cottingham Stadium (the home of Easton's football team).  I hate them so much, but their stadium is cool and the atmosphere is the best in the Lehigh Valley.  I decided to run around the outside of the stadium.  I was hoping a gate might be open.  The main gate was so I went in and took a lap around the field.  It is too bad they don't have track meets there.  That would be a cool place to watch a meet.

At this point, I was around the 2.5 mile mark.  My time was over 9 minute pace earlier in the run, but had dropped under it now.  I decided that I'd run down Northampton Street to the free bridge and add some more mileage if needed.

From the stadium, it was again a downhill section and then an uphill section.  This street is busy, so I finally ran on the sidewalk.  During the rest of the run, I used the street.  After the uphill, I cruised downhill again to the circle.

The circle became tricky.  It was great at first as I had a "walk" sign going into the circle.  There was too much traffic on the road, so I ran around the circle a little before getting back out of it.  As I got to the free bridge, I ended up with about a quarter mile left to run.  I went back along Riverside Park and under the bridge to finish up.

The sun was beating down, so I found some shade to relax a little.  I then walked back to my car.  I've been forgetting a towel all week and today I really could've used it.  I was surprised later on when I got out of my car.  My quads were quite sore.  I guess the hills played a part in that, but they didn't seem that tough.  It went away though.

This was a good workout because it provided some good scenery and was something different.  Now, I can focus on my long run.  The BCR is meeting at the Nor-Bath Trail tomorrow morning.  I think I am going to get there at 5:30 AM and get my run in before group even starts.  I'm planning on 14 miles.  I need to get to Kutztown before 9 AM for a cross country meet.  It will be a difficult and long day with little sleep.  I will probably end up falling asleep watching college football on Saturday afternoon.

4 miles - 35:26 (8:52 pace)

Another Humid Group Run

Since I missed completing the hard portions of yesterday's workout, I thought about some hill work in the morning.  I didn't feel great though, so I passed on that.  It was a good thing to because Kelley sent me a text and wanted to do some extra miles before the group run this evening.

I needed some more miles anyway, so it worked out well.  As we began the run, Jen had arrived.  I asked her if she wanted to join us or wait for the group.  She opted to wait.  Kelley and I took off together, heading east on the Parkway.  The plan was just for an easy 2 miles and we did exactly that.  As always with group runs, the time just flew by.  We had to slow for a dog, but that was about it.  We took a slightly different route across the river from the clubhouse.  We ended up running out and back a little on the hill road out of the Parkway's other lot.

We arrived back at the Clubhouse right at the 2 mile point.  Kelley's GPS wasn't working, so it was up to me to keep track.  I think the pace after two miles was a pedestrian 8:47.  We definitely weren't putting in a lot of effort.

A new runner, Jo came along and joined Jen.  It was good that Jen had some company.  I feel bad because she travels far to get to the group runs, but often has to run alone.  We probably need to add a slower group run leader.  Kelley and I lost the two of them early on as we headed west this second time, up and over the rolling hills.

The humidity was again unbearable.  I couldn't wear my group run leader T-shirt after the 2 miles in the beginning.  I just took it off and ran shirtless.  By the end of the run, my shorts were soaked and I had to walk funny.  Fall just can't get here fast enough. 

It is weird because it has been almost two weeks since I ran with Kelley.  That is rare.  I was on vacation for last week's run and she's been either too busy or sore for speedwork.  She has a sore tendon, although it didn't seem to bother her tonight.

I feel bad because one of my friend's Aaron came out for the group run last week, thinking that I would be there.  I never said on the facebook page that I wouldn't be.  I guess I should do that next time.  It would've been a good workout because he is fast.  He also just completed his first 50 miler over the weekend.  That's good stuff.

Since I haven't seen Kelley in weeks, we chatted a lot.  She went to the Baltimore Grand Prix auto race on Saturday, as did I.  We discussed that quite frequently, especially since I love to talk racing.  I probably said too about it.  I just like to let people know about one of my favorite sports, especially since it is so underrated and unknown.

Going up the big hill by the Fish Hatchery was difficult as always.  Kelley made a comment saying exactly that.  I commented back that it didn't seem as bad going in the opposite direction from what we usually do.  It seems much shorter in the direction that we went this evening.  It was still hard and she pulled ahead of me a little.  Maybe I should work on hammering up hills when I get the chance.  Instead, I opted to fly down it.  Maybe not the best idea on this stone path with my lightweight minimal shoes.

Most of the remainder of the run was uneventful as we just chatted away.  I think we saw Jen at one point on the other side.  I'm not sure, but her car was gone before we finished up.  I might run the free 5k next week, so I should've checked out the spot where I want to make my move.  When we did a group run a few weeks back, I busted my butt up the short hill near the Robin Hood Bridge and then flew downhill after that.  That would be ideal to pick it up at the end of the 5k, assuming I have something left in the tank.  We shall see.

Thanks to Kelley's extra mileage, I can back off a little tomorrow.  I was thinking of running 5 miles, but now I'll likely only do 4.  Friday's are always the day I enjoy the least.  It is always short and easy, but doing it solo makes it so dull and boring.  I have to find some creative places to run.  Maybe I'll try heading to the Poconos to make it interesting.  Saturday is a 14 mile long run.  I want to go to a high school cross country meet at Kutztown, so I need to either run there or go out very early even before the BCR group starts out.  They are running on the nearby Nor-Bath Trail, so that might help get me there.  Not sure that I want to start running at 5:30 AM.  I'm also not crazy about running in the humidity later on either.

7 miles - 59:29 (8:30 pace)

It's Getting Tougher

I knew this would be a tough run today and I was correct.  I wanted to get up early and get going, but my calves were very tight from the last two days.  I opted to head out later in the day.

Of course it was very humid when I started mid afternoon.  When isn't it humid.  This seems like the worst summer ever when it comes to that.  Again, the actual temperature wasn't bad.

The plan was to do mile repeats.  After successfully completing 3 of them under a 7 minute pace last week, I was hoping to do 4 this week.  Of course it was much cooler then.

My legs seemed okay when I started off with my mile warmup.  They weren't great, but no worse than usual.  I began at the D&L Trail in Cementon.  After that first mile, I picked up the pace.  I didn't feel like I was working too hard.  I got through half a mile under goal pace and was thrilled.  The back half of this first hard segment was certainly tough.  My pace slipped a bit and I came in just under goal with a 6:57.

The legs weren't feeling strong, but I was hoping they would come around.  Last week, I took a third of a mile rest in between repeats, this week it was only a quarter of a mile.  The extra rest probably would've helped.

Before I knew it, I was going hard again.  I hoped that I could ease into this repeat and pick it up at the end.  Instead, the opposite happened.  I was over pace early and the pace kept dipping.  I had thought before this repeat that if I could make it through this one, I could will my way through the final two.  I also figured those two would be downhill.  I did complete this second mile repeat, but complete it was about all I did.  I didn't fight through the fatigued legs.  Instead, I just kind of quit.  It still was a decent pace, but it was a much slower 7:30 mile.

I'm kind of disappointed that I quit so easy.  Sometimes you have to battle.  Realistically this probably wasn't one of those days.  I over did it with my hard running on Monday.  It didn't seem like it at the time, but I definitely felt it after that run.  I just wasn't recovered by today's run.  I need to go hard on Mondays, but with a little more control.  Ideally, I'd run hard on Mondays and Thursdays, but Thursday is my group run day.  I need to be solid on Monday or I'll have nothing left for Wednesday.

Since I was about as far out as I had originally planned, I opted to just run easy the rest of the way.  I wasn't recovered so there was just no point in killing myself.  The final 2 miles were pretty tough anyway, even at this slower pace.  I actually developed a side sticker.  That is odd because it usually only happens when I'm going fast.

I'm sure eating an Oreo doughnut and candy bar as my only food for the day didn't help.  Having my blood drawn beforehand might not have been good either.  That said, I think my performance was affected mainly by the lack of recovery from Monday.  The second factor was the humidity.  I think a training partner might've helped some, but it wouldn't have made enough of a difference to successfully complete the workout.

It is good to listen to your body.  When you don't have it, you don't have it.  I haven't had trouble with these repeats too often.  It is good to have a setback every now and then, as long as it doesn't become a pattern.  I just need to learn from this and bounce back stronger.  You don't learn anything from good days.  It is the bad ones that teach a lesson.

Walking back from the end of the run was brutal.  First, I was sweating into my eyes and it was burning.  Then, I felt like I was getting bitten on my back.  I noticed it again on my compression sock and I saw some type of fly.  It was annoying as it kept going after me.  Rather than stretch, I jumped right into the car and took off.

Tomorrow will be the LVRR Group Run in the Parkway.  I'm going to add a mile to the run to get to 6 miles.  Not sure if I'll go easy again on Friday.  I might opt to try a couple mile repeats.  I should be recovered enough by then.  It is just a matter of whether or not that will compromise my Saturday long run.  We'll have to see how things play out.

7 miles - 47:00 (7:50 pace)

Couldn't Avoid the Storms

I was up late watching TV and ended up sleeping in.  That meant I went for bloodwork right at lunch time and then actually headed to lunch at Taco Bell afterward.  I needed a couple hours break, so I didn't get out to run until after 3:30 PM.  My body never did feel great after the tacos.  That is no surprise.

I heard thunderstorms as I was about to run.  I looked at the weather map and everything was supposed to be south of here and the weather forecast was for two hours of just clouds.  I decided to do something different and have my mom drop me off at my old high school and then I'd just run home.  Often I'd do this as a 10 mile out and back.  One way would be 5 miles.

The sky was dark as we drove there, but there was no rain.  Of course right as we arrived, the rain began.  I ran down behind the high school to the new middle school to add a little distance.  I had to go to the bathroom, so I stopped briefly to do so.

The rain was already coming down pretty good at this point.  Coming out of the high school area and into town is a tough uphill segment.  For some reason, my shoes were squeaking on pavement.  I quickly moved to the sidewalk to avoid the cars.

Running through town, I got soaked.  Luckily, I didn't have to stop for any cars.  I was out of the main section of town before I knew it.  I was heading toward Gracedale.  This portion is a bit tough because it heads downhill twice and uphill twice before the long downhill to the retirement home.  I wasn't going hard, but these hills took a lot out of me.

The drop down from town to Gracedale is excellent.  It is a fast descent and allows the pace to drop.  My paced went down throughout most of the run.  I saw a deer again today, but this time he was dead.  I had to run on the road to avoid him.

The rain was creating a lot of puddles.  I tried running on the concrete road when I could, but the paved shoulder was a better option as it was taking on less water.  The big problem was any water running downhill.  It created small streams.  My feet got soaked while running through a few of them.

I had to watch to make sure cars didn't spray me as well.  One car (of teens I presume) yelled at me near Gracedale.  It scared the crap out of me.  After that, a dump truck drove by as I was running near as sticker bush.  I rubbed up against the bush and ended up pulling parts of it off me later on.

I had some trouble crossing Route 248 and I didn't want to stop, so I kept running up the road and crossed where I could.  I then turned and went back to where I originally was going to cross.  I had to run through a lot of puddles here.


The last couple miles to my house are along Route 946.  This nice and flat.  They just repaved the shoulder too, so that was a big help.  I still had to worry some about cars.  I was just glad I didn't twist an ankle while moving around the shoulder of the road.  As I passed a house, I thought a dog was barking at me.  It was actually just a rooster in the front yard.

I was right around 5 miles at this point.  The final two miles of the run were tough for a couple reasons.  First, my body was just beat from the hard workout yesterday.  My legs didn't have much.  Second, the sun finally came out and it was very humid.  The heat was brutal and eventually it led to me taking my singlet off.

Rather than going home, I decided to turn into the small industrial park just before there.  I knew the road led to some relatively new houses on the other side of the elementary school.  I didn't realize that they had built some new townhouses along this road.  That was great because I could add some mileage without encountering any traffic.  Only a few people had moved into the houses at this point.

I then ran by the slightly newer houses.  As I passed one of them, a dog barked at me and chased me.  I stopped, started walking and told it to go back home.  It was a Golden Retriever so I wasn't too worried that it was going to attack me.  I think it really just wanted to run because it kept running when I stopped.  I got it to turn around and go home and I was on to running again.  Dogs are a big reason I avoid neighborhood running.  It is too bad because I could probably put in close to a half marathon distance now with all the interconnecting neighborhoods near me.

The great thing with going this direction is that the course is a net descent.  Even though there are some rolling hills, most of it is either downhill or flat.  That allows for some fast time.  One day, I'd like to run to all the school within the district.  That could be fun, but certainly also difficult.  Bushkill is pretty far out and there are a lot of big hills there, plus the roads don't have much of a shoulder.

I finished up right behind the elementary school.  Some curious girl on a scooter started talking to me.  Kids can be so funny.  I walked the short distance home.

It was a good workout and I'm glad I missed any real dangerous storms.  The rain was quite refreshing.  The only problem is that with back to back days of running in the rain, my shoes are quite wet.  I need to make sure everything dries out.  I couldn't wear my new hat again because it didn't dry in time.

Tomorrow is speedwork Wednesday.  I still didn't get my bloodwork done today, so I need to get it done before noon tomorrow.  That means an early run tomorrow.  I was planning that anyway.  I'm hoping to do 4 X 1 mile repeats.  We'll see what my body can handle.  I haven't talked to Kelley much lately, so I'm not sure if she'll be joining me.  Regardless, I'm looking forward to another good day.

7 miles - 59:19 (8:29 pace)

Rainy Fartlek

We have some leftover rain throughout the region from a hurricane that hit the south.  Because of that, I elected not to run a 5k in Maryland this morning.  I also wasn't crazy about getting up early or driving half an hour to the start.

Instead, I waited until we got home.  Then I got my run in.  I wanted a longer speedwork session anyway, so this was a better option than a 5k.  I was unsure whether I wanted to do a tempo run or a fartlek.  With the rain, I figured I'd get frustrated with my time if I tried a tempo run, so I opted for a fartlek.  That way I could just run however I felt.

I looked at the weather before heading out.  It was raining off and on all day.  At times, it was heavy and other times it was light.  The weather forecast said I had a couple hours window of clear.  It was so wrong.

I wasn't taking any chances, so I brought my new rain jacket along.  I've been putting off buying a running hat because I'm too cheap for a $22 hat.  With such potential for rain, I had no choice this time.  I went to Sports Authority and purchased a blue Nike one.  It was funny because I walked into the store with a T-shirt on and my short running shorts on.  I had to pull the T-shirt up a bit, otherwise it looked like I wasn't wearing any pants.

I started the run in a light rain at the Plainfield Recreation Trail.  I wanted a paved surface rather than a soggy stone path.  Of course there still ended up being plenty of small stones in the path.  I didn't know what to wear.  It was raining quite a bit, so the jacket would be a big help to keep the rain off.  At the same time, it wasn't that cool so I knew the jacket would make me too hot.  It's always a tough choice when it rains on a warm day.  I knew that whatever decision I made, I'd likely regret it.  I was correct.

As I was prepping for the run at my car a guy and woman started walking.  I was puzzled that over a half mile into the run and I had not caught them.  They weren't that far ahead.  I then made it to the woman and saw that they were both running.  That made more sense.  The guy was quite far ahead.  I was going to ask the woman his pace, but decided not to.

I figured that I would catch up to him soon enough.  I was correct.  He wasn't going very fast.  My warmup felt easy, but I guess he pulled me along because it was quite fast.  I blew right by him as my warmup ended and the speedy segment began. 

I started off with some fairly fast running.  It was good to get the legs churning and I was feeling great.  The only problem was that the jacket was too hot.  I took it off, crumbled it up and held it in my hand.  I thought about stashing it somewhere during the run and picking it up later.  Instead, I just ran with it.

After some quick running, I needed to slow it down a little.  I went with a longer half mile fast segment.  Of course it was quick, but not as blazing as my earlier shorter segments.  The pace was still under 7 minutes per mile, but most of the shorter stuff was done at under a 6 minute pace.

I turned around just past halfway.  At some point while running fast on the way back, I came across a deer on the trail.  I yelled at a rabbit for fun and didn't even see the deer up ahead on the path.  He sprinted along the path and then back into the woods.  I am always seeing deer.

On the short fast segments on the way back, I turned it up again.  At this point, my legs were feeling very fatigued.  I just kept battling.  I ran a blazing 5:26 pace for .15 miles and then the next one was a slower 5:54 for .20 miles.

After killing myself with these two tough segments, I needed a longer and slower recovery type of fast segment again.  I did another half mile one at just under a 7 minute pace.  It was still fast and tough, just not as difficult as running at the other speed.  My legs were really gone at this point though.

After a nice recovery, I had time for just one more short fast segment.  I pushed about as hard as I could.  I was way out of my comfort zone.  It was only a tenth of a mile.  I knew if I just battled, I'd do alright.  It would be over before I knew it.  I ran that one at a 5:22 pace.  That was my fastest segment of the whole run. 

The speed portion of this workout was great.  It got me going much faster than I'm accustomed too.  I was certainly out of my comfort zone.  I should get much stronger from this and be able to handle longer and slower paces.  It was a great challenge.


I was hoping to come across the two runners again, but I never did.  I encountered another guy running as I was coming back.  It was good to see a few others as crazy as me.  I got completely soaked in this run.  Doing my long fast segment towards the end was tough because the sky really opened up.  It was an absolute downpour.  I just worked through it.  Again, I couldn't help but think of the Adidas "Runners. Yeah, we're different." campaign from years ago.  Who else would be dedicated enough to be out in this rain.

The cooldown mile was nice.  I put my jacket back on and began to sweat some more.  I wanted to stay dry or not get chilled as I ran slower.  My Garmin had some issues.  It is too sensitive in the rain.  It worked better than it has at other times though.  I finished up right around where I had started.  It was almost dry conditions.  I was shocked at how beat I was when I the run was complete.  I worked harder than I thought I had done.  My body definitely felt it.

I was so glad to put in such a good workout.  Now, I need some recovery.  That's what tomorrow will bring.  Apparently it is supposed to rain.  I have to work in the run any time that it clears up.  I also have to get to the hospital to have some bloodwork done.  I have no idea when or where I'll actually be running.  It just has to be an easy 6 or 7 miles.  Wednesday is my mile repeat day.  I need to see how I recover from today's workout.  Since I ran later in the day today, getting back into top form by Wednesday morning could be tough.  I might have to cut that run back a little more than I would like to.  It should be a good week no matter what I do.

7 miles - 54:29 (7:47 pace)

Runners. Yeah, We’re Different

Adidas used to run adds in Runner’s World that said, “Runners.  Yeah, We’re Different.”  They would show pictures of unique things that runners do, like learn how to aim snot.  I couldn’t help but think of this campaign as I was running tonight.  

Since I couldn’t get my run done in daylight, I opted to eat first and watch some football after we got back from the race today.  That also meant that I had to let the food settle for about 2 hours.  Because of that, I didn’t get out to run until 11 PM.  What really make it unique though was where I was running and how I was running.

I put on the headlamp, compression socks and reflective vest and headed out of the camper.  Because it was such a steep section when you leave the campground, I opted to run circles around the campground.  As I did the first loop, I was relieved to learn that each loop was .85 miles long rather than around .5 miles I had originally thought.  That meant far fewer loops than I planned for as I was going for an 8 mile run.

I started off with 3 loops in the counterclockwise direction.  These actually weren’t as bad as I thought they would be.  I kept my headlamp low and could only see the ground right in front of me.  That meant I didn’t notice my surroundings in the campground too much.  A rarely was even sure when I passed our camper. 

The other thing that a short field of view was good for was the inability to see the top of hills.  That meant that I didn’t know how much climbing remained.  There were plenty of hills to be sure.  The whole campground is rolling.  The toughest one was between our main loop and the small loop in the other part of the campground.  It was short, but quite the climb.

I did sort of get bored after three loops, so I decided to change it up.  I then ran in the clockwise direction.  That was uncomfortable to say the least.  My right leg had started to bother me a little before that, but that made it worse.  My time per mile dropped by around 30 seconds.  This is proof that I favor one side or am just much weaker on one side.  That could be a big reason for some of my soreness.  I need to balance that out.

The hills made it tough, but the air made it more difficult.  The temperature wasn’t that high, but it was still so muggy.  By the end of the run, I felt like I was swimming.  My shorts were dripping.  I also took my headlamp off and sweat sprayed all over the place.  Add to that the smoke from some camp fires and my breathing was surely compromised.  Once while doing a reverse loop, I felt a breeze.  That was brief though and the only time I felt any air (other than when I finished up running much faster).

The people in the campground must’ve thought I was crazy.  I ran by the over and over again in the nearly 1 hour and 15 minute workout.  I had to pass at every camp site on the outer loop at least 5 times, probably closer to 8 times.  Luckily, must of the people were in bed and didn’t notice me.  Quite a few did though.  There were several walkers.  The first one I saw had a dog.  I didn’t even see it.  I just saw its glowing eyes.  As I went through the inner loop of our site, someone followed me with their headlamp or flashlight.  I was definitely bizarre.  

Towards the end of the run, I realized that two big loops would just about get me to the end.  I did one, but couldn’t get myself to do a second one.  I didn’t want to go up the bigger hills in the adjacent loop, so I just went around our outer and inner loops.

Even though I was beat and my pace was slowing a bit, I picked it up at the end.  I finished with a fairly hard final half mile.  It felt good to really move.  I cut my overall pace nicely.  The humidity and hills took a lot out of me, but I showed I had something left.

I am so focused and determined right now.  I think about 90% of runners would’ve just skipped running today.  They would’ve found and excuse.  I actually would’ve done the same in the past.  I’m just so determined.  This is kind of like a job to me, except that it is one I actually like.  Most days are good, but even if they aren’t I just put my head down and grind it out.  That’s sure what I did today on this repetitive loop course.  It was far from fun, but I knew I had to get it done.  I knew I’d feel better at the end too.

Even though the run was tougher than some of my double digit mileage runs, my legs were fresh afterward.  They weren’t sore.  I recovered well with a short walk.  This is the end of my cutback week and it seems like it was a big help for my legs.

With all the walking we’ll be doing again tomorrow on race day, I’m glad I’m taking off from running.  I’ll get enough accomplished without it.  I might opt to run a 5k down here on Monday.  It depends how I feel that morning.  I’m very bugged about how slow my last 5k was and I want to see what I can do a month later.  If I don’t race, I’ll be doing some speedwork later in the day when we get home from our trip.  We will have to see how things play out.

8 miles – 1:13:15 (9:09 pace)

Up and Down

Today was the first day running near Baltimore.   We are camping at Patapsco State Park.  The park is huge in that it runs along the river for mile after mile.  The issue is that the park roads themselves don’t go very far.  The other problem is that Maryland State Parks blow.  They charge for maps of the different sections.  We were only able to even find one map of the trails on a kiosk.  

There is one trail that goes quite far along the river, but I think it is closed because of construction on the road overhead.  I might explore it tomorrow anyway.  All the other trails in this area are very short with the Ole Ranger Loop being the longest at 1.5 miles.

Since I was only doing 4 miles today, I just opted to mostly run on the roads around the park.  I began by running our campground loop.  There are a lot of hills here and that made the loop difficult.  The worst hill was a steep up and down just after the end of the campground.  It was tough to even drive, so you can imagine how difficult running it was.

The campground loop was about .4 miles and the up and down added a few tenths more.  I then headed to the other side of the park, under the highway.  There were more hills over there.  My first mile was quite slow.  I went up to the park office and ran around it.

After that, I headed onto the Ole Ranger Trail.  It started with some uphill.  I said to myself that if I saw some more ascending, I’d turn around.  The trail wasn’t too rocky, but there were some rocks.  It did snake around, causing for a slow pace.  I got to a fork in the trail and chose the shorter path.  It came out into a field, so I turned around.  I didn’t want to run through the high brush without bug spray on.  I already had to duck a few bushes earlier in the trail.  I was without trail shoes.

I didn’t go that far out, so I came back pretty quickly.  I looped around the park office again.  I still couldn’t believe how slow my pace was.  It was over 10 minutes.  It didn’t feel that slow.  My legs were beat up from walking all day, but they didn’t seem too bad.

I then went on the short out and back to the Small Pond Trail.  The pond was certainly that.  The path out there was short and the pond itself was underwhelming.  I did go off on another trail and that was a neat short segment.  It had a lot of curvy low laying trees, almost like vines.  The trail came out to a beat up motel next to the park, so I turned around and went back to the main road.

I then headed back toward the campground.  I did a short out and back to the main road after going under the tunnel.  I went back the other way to go through a parking area.  Of course there were more rolling hills.  That was the theme of this tough run.  

When going through the lot, I saw a deer at the other end of the loop.  I thought about going down one of the trails, but instead I ran by the deer.  I eventually scared it into the woods and noticed that it was there with a baby and another adult.  I never get tired of running by deer.  I should start keeping track of how many I see on my runs.  Obviously, it would be a lot more when I’m on trails regularly.  We saw plenty of them walking around last night.  This park is full of them.

As I was heading back toward the campground, I noticed a couple guys coming up a path.  I decided to run there.  I ended up doing a short out and back.  It was worth it though as there was a spectacular view of the park’s river valley.

There was a trail there, but I was almost done so there was no point in exploring it.  Now I just had to climb the tough hill before the campground again.  That was quite the challenge.  It was the end of my run too, right as I got to the top.  It was a tough and slow 4 miles, but I was glad to be done.

The weather didn’t seem too bad when I started, but it was brutal as I ran.  It was so muggy.  I was sweating like crazy.  I went shirtless as usual too.  I guess the nice days of running are over for a little while now.

We left the track early today because I was getting tired and sore.  Plus, they had some issues with cars flying over bumps on the track, so they did a lot of work and had big delays.  Leaving early allowed me to get my run in around dinner time.  Tomorrow ends with a race, so I won’t be so lucky.  I am cutting back, so I only have to run 8 miles.  I’m not sure where I can do that though, since there aren’t a lot of places to run.  Add to that that it will most likely be dark when I go out.  I do have a headlamp with me if I decide to run some trails.  I’m not sure I’ll do that without a map.

My body felt recovered and rested before this run, but the combination of the walking at the track and running these hills today didn’t help by the end.  I’m not quite as refreshed as I was earlier in the week.  It will likely only get worse as the weekend moves along.  I’ll just have to battle through it though.  Regardless, it was a productive day.

It is now the end of August and I’ve had quite a busy month.  I ran 27 out of the 31 days this month.  I ran 28 times total.  My mileage for the month was just over 155.  It has been one of my most productive months ever and certainly the most I’ve done in over two years.

4 miles – 39:24 (9:51 pace)