Just before I left work last night Lee asked me if I was up for 10 miles or so in the Wissahickon. After a fairly hard 9 miles the night before I was mildly up for it and agreed. As expected my legs felt heavy in the first couple miles and I thought it was going to difficult run.

We quickly jumped onto to some hilly trails and my legs began to feel better despite the rough terrain. It turned into a decent run. The thought of the big dinner that Heather was cooking, powered me up Rex hill to the finish much faster than I expected. 10+ miles in 84:00.

I waited for the rain to abate for much of the afternoon but by 5:00 I decided it was just going to be a wet run. Heather and I headed out into a complete downpour but it was warm enough and the rain was a nice break from the runs earlier this week. After about 3.5 with Heather I continued down Forbidden Drive to 4.5 miles and then headed back. 36 minutes on the way out, 33 minutes coming back.

This evening was a second trip out to the trails I talked about in the last post. The thermometer on my car ticked up from 90 to 97 degrees by the time I reached the park, I was in for a hot run. This being practically a desert, the humidity was way down and for the first time I could really see if it was the humidity and not the heat that made the difference. I can say for certain it is definitely the humidity. It wasn't a comfortable run by any means but I'll take 95 and dry over 85 and horribly humid any day of the week.

I stayed away from the hills I ran on the other day and stuck to the relatively flat trails I could find in the area. Despite the warning signs I happily didn't see any mountain lions. 7-8 miles in 60 minutes.

Disneyland

I am out in Anaheim California for a work conference. The conference is at the Disneyland hotel and really Disneyland is not as fun when you have to go to eight hours of meetings every day. Also, Anaheim is not conducive to running. The entire area is covered with big boulevards lined with parking lots catering to an endless stream of stores. It's similar to very congested areas of Jersey but continues on for miles.

I was hoping for a better spot to run than the Disneyland Loop so I jumped on google.maps and found a large park 10 miles due east. I hopped in the car with a bottle of water and some hastily written directions and was on my way. The first park I tried had a 3 dollar parking fee and of course I had two dollars so I continued on down the road a little let down. One mile later I saw some serious looking mountain bikers hopping on to a trail and my spirits were lifted.

I eventually found a place to park in "Irvine Area Park", a green gem in a very parched landscape. I started off in the general direction of where I thought these trails might be. With a little luck and the help of a mountain biker I hit the jackpot, miles of trails twisting and winding up steep hills with fantastic views at the top. It was way better than anything I had hoped for. The serious part of my loop started with "Goat Hill" and ended with "The Three Bitches". With trail names like that you know it was a good and difficult run. Much longer and steeper hills than anything I find in the Wissahickon.

In fact I went longer than I or my legs expected. After about 1:20 I was happy to be done. I might have to take another trip out there later this week.

Philly Distance Run

I jumped into the first corral before the race and chatted with Steve Gelman as we waited for the run to start. We'd be running through a picture perfect morning, you could not ask for better weather for mid-September in Philly. Legs had felt tight during a warmup mile on MLK and I decided before the gun sounded to make an extra effort to take things easy in mile one.

The first mile went by in 6:45, good. I bumped into Yellowshorts and said high as we rounded City Hall into a very bright, very low sun on Market Street. Mile 2 was somewhere around 6:20, I took stock and decided I was feeling good. It was early and I was worried that lack of mileage in training would get me in the last few miles. I decided to push it out of my head and just run. I spilt the miles but really I didn't pay to much attention to it, it was always somewhere between 6:20 and 6:40.

At mile four I noticed that the girl in front of me had shit her pants and was still cruising along. I don't need to go into to much detail but she had on short shorts. We had just run by 300 hundred beautifully blue porta potties and the girl in front of me shit her pants. I can understand mile 12.5 maybe, about to qualify for New York marathon maybe. But at mile four? Running nine miles with poopy pants at PDR just seems insane. Unluckily I was yo-yoing in front and behind poopy pants several times going up MLK. In my opinion one glance at that was one to many. I bumped into Jeff (Ian's Friend) go up the drive and he said "Lets get the out from behind her." He is very wise.

With the exception of the above I was really enjoying the race. I was running maybe a few seconds slower per mile than I was probably capable but I was content. I talked with a girl who is in the NYC Central Park running club, I chatted with a coworker who was there to run some with his son but not really to race, I ran by Bob a Wissahickon Wanderer and I basked in the beautiful morning and a superb run.

We ran over Falls Bridge with just over 4 miles to go and I pushed things a little bit harder. All the way down Kelly Drive I was slowly passing people and feeling great. Instead of the miles feeling interminably long, like they often can at the end of the race, they went by quickly. Suddenly I had two miles to go and decided to push a little more. We ran up the hill to the Art Museum and now I was feeling it. There was probably a grimace on my face but we were nearly done. In the last 400 M I gave it all I had trying to pass a guy just in front of me. He sensed me coming and matched my pace, keeping just ahead.

We came around the final 100 degree turn (why the hell do they have a 100 degree blind turn 100 M from the finish of a 13 mile race?) and up the final straight away. I have been out kicked many times at the end of a race and it has always pissed me off. Today I was able to do the kicking. Suddenly I was sprinting and easily passing the guy in front of me. It felt good. That is until I crossed the line and nearly booted.

In the finishing chute I noticed an older but very fast guy that I often run by in the Wissahickon, he introduced himself and we talked for a couple minutes. It turns out that he is friends with poopy pants who finished not far behind me. Before I knew it, I was saying hi and shaking hands.
In the last post I said I'd be happy to break 1:25. Final time 1:25:09. Oh well, I was still very happy. Based on the way I raced and how felt from start to finish it was one of the better races I've done.

It's been awhile since my last post, 11 days to be exact and I wish I could say I had some exciting runs which totaled many miles between then and now.... but I don't. This is the first time in a long time that I have not recorded my runs and mileage on a daily basis in some kind of log. I haven't even opened my log up since late July. Memory is notoriously lousy at recalling runs especially over an 11 day period but I'll highlight one that sticks out.

Last Thursday I joined Lee for a longish run in the park. Lee is in training for the Philadelphia Marathon. He completed an Ironman about one year ago but this is his first shot at a marathon. He is just hitting that sweet spot in marathon training where the higher mileage is starting to pay off in more than just tired legs and you surprise yourself during workouts. We ran 10 miles through the park on a mix of Forbidden Drive and trails. I don't get out there much with other runners anymore and it was fun to shoot the shit about many topics while time quickly passed.

I turned off to finish the last couple miles on my own and my thoughts drifted back to Philly Runners group runs and "Thursday Nights" when we'd have anywhere from 2-10 people running anywhere from easy to break-neck pace. Sadly, after nearly two years of hardly ever missing a Thursday the crew started to break up due to marriage, moves, injuries, life. In that moment I was really missing those nights, those runs and those friends. But, things move on and so does my running. It just doesn't move along quite as quickly at the moment.

I got on here to not to talk about all my runs over the last couple weeks but to talk about a race coming up on Sunday. The Philly Distance Run. This was my very first race 10 years ago. Back then it started on Market Street and now, just like nearly all races in Philly, it starts on the Parkway. Back then I was nervous of the unknown and now I am nervous about my loss of fitness over the past two months. My PR at this race is 1:30 so I should easily break that, the only question is by how much. I'll be happy to get under 1:25 but I really don't know if that is possibility, I'll find out in two days. I hope to see some of the Thursday Night Crew at the race as well. Good Luck.

Friday evening I ran 4-5 miles with Heather, all at an easy pace. In fact we walked the last mile home.

Saturday was rained out. I thought about a wet run but in the end went for a wet swim instead. 35 minutes and undetermined distance.

Sunday. I haven't been doing much specific training for the Philly Distance Run on Sept 21 st. I figured the least I could do was to put in some longish runs on the weekends. Over the past couple weeks I have run 75 minutes and 90 minutes. Yesterday my goal was 1:45 or about 14 miles. Instead of mapping the distance out I just struck of for Forbidden Drive and planned it was I went along to get home in 1:45.

I took Forbidden to the top of the park and kept going up the street and across Germantown Pike onto a road that parallels an extremely verdant golf course due to all the rain on Saturday. It was warm and sunny, enough to make the run uncomfortable but I was enjoying it. After 10 minutes I turned around and ran back to the park.

The remainder of the run was up and down on Forbidden Drive. I didn't measure my pace but I would guess somewhere in the 7:20 - 7:30 range. In the last few miles I really started to feel fatigued and had to keep pushing so the pace didn't drop. I saw Heather with a couple miles to go and she said I was looking a little pastey. (She mentioned this later in the day not when I saw her during the run.) I was feeling a little pastey too. I blame this more on the 6 beers I had the night before than the run itself.

Fall Migration

I ran later than usual last night to try and avoid the heat from what is hopefully the final hot gasp of summer. The run was mostly in the dark and therefore not in the Wissahickon but on the streets. From April through most of September nearly every one of my runs is in the Wissahickon Park, from October through March I avoid the spooky darkness of the park and opt for the less spooky darkness of my neighborhood.

By the time March rolls around I am tired of the lonely evening streets but last night I welcomed the change of scenery and the feel that comes with it. It was still warm and humid but bearable. I felt strong and steady running around the "Long" Chestnut Hill Loop. With the decreased mileage all of my runs have had this fresh, urgent feel. More of a spring in my step and smoothness to my stride.

8.5 miles in 62 minutes.

PhillyMTB

I joined a few guys from Philly Mountain Bike Crew for a ride through the Wissahickon last night. The ride was labeled as "fast, few stops" and truthfully I was apprehensive about whether I'd be able to keep up.

I rolled down to Valley Green at 5:30 and after about 15 minutes, six us of us headed out on the trails. We were soon stretched out on a long hill and happily I could see I was going to be able to hold my own. There were a couple guys that kept me pushing most of the way but it was a pace I could handle.

For the most part we were on some very familiar trails until we got to Lincoln Drive. We crossed the Drive at Rittenhouse Town and onto a strip of trail that I have run many times but never biked. After a 1/4 mile a sudden left hand turn took us onto a long stretch of singletrack that I'd never been on. It reminded me a lot of the twisty trails off of Belmont Avenue in Fairmount park but this trail was lot newer, looser, and more difficult to ride. The pace was slower but I fell to the back of the pack as I tried to negotiate a much more technical trail. I had two very low speed falls that left me no worse for wear.

After about 10 minutes on this trail we emerged where we started and hopped back onto some more well worn trails. I turned off before we got back to Valley Green for a quick exit that would avoid any more major hills on the way home. I was spent. Once home I enjoyed a long shower and a big dinner.

The Fall semester starts tonight so that will be my one and only Tuesday night ride for a long while. I have class every Tues, Wed, Thurs night from now through December which will definitely put a damper on my normal evening exercise routine. I'll either have to run early or run late 3 days a week.

Labor Day Weekend

No huge or spectacular workouts this weekend. I kept things easy and enjoyed the weather.

Saturday was 4 mile run/walk with Boomer. We hopped around the Wissahickon on some trails and Forbidden Drive. Boomer maybe it a double by swimming in the creek, chasing a stick. I remained on dry land and kept clear of the shaking dog when he got out of the water.

Sunday was a very lazy day for me. Couldn't get motivated to do much other than watch the Phillies game and strum the guitar for most of the morning and afternoon. After the Phillies win I finally decided to jump on my bike. I took my normal route which involves getting up to Bells Mill and then the upper trails on the Forbidden Drive side of the park. This route maximizes speed and downhill runs as there isn't as much technical rocky terrain.

The good thing about a bike is that you can always slow down and take it easy but you are still getting somewhere . When running your only option is to walk and usually I don't see that as much of an option unless I am totally spent. After trail riding, the rest of the way home was at a leisurely pedal. About 1.5 hours.

Sunday afternoon I delayed my run until the day was at its hottest at about 3:00. Luckily the higher temps have not come with high humidity and although it was in the upper 80's the run wasn't to bad. A little over 5 miles in 40 minutes.