Trail, Rain and Sun.

I am a little behind on my blogging so I have three runs to post about.

Friday night was a just under 6 mile jaunt on the Wissahickon Trails. I hit the trail just off of the Ridge avenue. This rocky trail parallels Lincoln drive with many twists, turns and hills until being dumped onto Wisshaickon Ave. From here I cut through Old Rittenhouse Town, into Wiss park proper and it's a few more miles on the trails before emergeing at the top of my block. I kept up a decent pace and felt good. 5.8 miles in 41 minutes.

Saturday was a, much needed, dreary rainy day in Philly, with a misty and sometimes heavy rain persisting all day long. I slept in missing the morning PR run, went into the city most of the afternoon and after getting home around 6:00 in a pouring rain I really didn't think a run was in the cards. However, Heather had other ideas and somehow talked me into a trip up Forbidden drive.

A cold rain drenched us from the start and I was initially freezing and complaining. Things slowly got bareable as I warmed up and I actually started enjoying the run. The rain picked up to what I would call a downpour and we were the lone runners on a Saturday evening in a huge soaking wet park. Eventually we even cut out the pointless detouring around huge muddy puddles and embraced the rain. We cut the run a little shorter then planned but still got in roughly 6 miles in a relaxing 52 minutes.

Today was a great run, one of those runs you wish every run could feel like. One of those runs that feels good from the start and just continues to get better. One of those runs where the weather, music, mood, fitness and route come together in perfect harmony.

In contrast to yesterday I was out running under cloudless skies with temps in the upper 60's. I was unsure of my route and distance as I headed down Kelly Drive to the Falls Bridge. I had Marah's, "Kid's in Philly" on my Ipod and I decided to cut across the Falls bridge and up the Bloddy Nipple. At the top I made a left at the first light and cut into the park behind a few houses. I quickly found a trail and was winding my way through some very disorienting and fun single track that cut a windy route through the damp foliage. I really had expected a muddy mess on the trails but it was more like a moist coushin with good footing..

After meandering a while through the woods I popped out on Ford Road, left on chamounix and up to the Hostel, looked for a trail back behind that but didn't see anyhing. Backtracked a bit to an empty softball field and found more windy trails. I eventually ended up on the same trails that I had ran on Tuesday night with the group. This took me to Montgomery Ave and I decided to head down to MLK more out of need for the water fountain at the base of the hill then for the path on MLK.

At this point I was a little over an hour into the run and I was easily ticking of 7 minute miles on my way towards the Art Museum. The river was swollen and muddy after the yesterday's rain and I just relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon. The Art Museum steps were especially crowded, even for a sunny spring sunday, and I cut up them and behind the museum meeting up with Kelly Drive next to Lloyd hall.

I was feeling a little fatigued but the miles were still coming easy at a 7:05 pace. I cruised up the drive and back to my house for a conservative 15 miles in 1 hour and 52 min. It ended up being my longest run since the marathon in November. It also put me at just over 50 miles for the week. Only the second time I have ever broken 50 and I biked 16 on Monday.