Thursday, April 20, 2006

Twice on the Trails

Tuesday night a small splinter group including, Russ, Craig, Ian, Alex, and Kevin J skipped the normal 5 mile out and back and headed up MLK to run on the Belmont Plateau. We ran the single track that I had just ridden on the night before. It's funny that I haven't been in this section of the park for almost a year and now I am in there two days in a row.

The six of us wound our way along the narrow trails with alex in the lead and I on the back. After about 20 minutes of this we ended up right where we had entered the trails. From here we headed up the lawn to Belmont Mansion Drive, across Belmont, over St. Georges and then back to Art Museum Via Girard Bridge and Lemon Hill.

Really just a great run, at a fairly easy pace, until the last half mile on Kelly drive. Ian took off, Craig and I followed up the hill to the Museum. I can't remember exactly but I think it was about 9 miles in 72 minutes.

Wednesday evening I was in a bit of a rush so I hit a shorter loop that I used to run fairly often in the Wissahickon Park. I pushed the entire way up and down the trails and finished teh 4.5 miles in just over 30 minutes. Muxch faster than I have ever run it in the past.

The day was warm and I was covered in sweat by the end of this run. It was a little sample of what it is like to run in the summer and I am really not looking forward to it. With the heat, humidity, and the sweat I am in a constant battle to stay hydrated. Perhaps we will have a cooler than normal summer. One where we rarely break the 90 degree mark and the days fair and cool with low humidity. I can dream right? Or I could just move to San Diego.

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