I am many days behind on blogging but sadly there were only three runs in there.

Sunday - a longish run with Seebo and Deidre. Click over to Seebo's blog for a good recount of the run. I'll just say a beautiful fall morning, good company, and some very cooperative legs left me feeling great at the end of this run. I was even able to scrounge up enough loose change in my car to stop for a coffee on the way home. 14.3 miles in 1:56

Monday - No run. I would have liked to get out for a few to loosen up some tight legs but I spent most of the evening studying.

Tuesday - An easy loop around Chestnut Hill. In my mind I was going faster but when I measured things out, the 8+ pace told my mind what my legs already knew; I was hurting from a 5K and a 14+ miler over the weekend. I just haven't been putting in the mileage to bounce right back from that.

Wednesday - Late class and no run.

Thursday - A long loop around Chestnut Hill. Back to the same route I followed on many runs last fall/winter/spring. Feels good to be back. My calves were extremely tight for much of the run, enought to make me stop and stretch. Surprisingly they felt better as things progressed and I had a brisk pace going in the last few miles. 7.5 miles in 56 minutes.

I am offically making my seventh attempt to become a morning run. I figure this is kind of like quitting smoking. It might not work on the first several attempts but eventually it is bound to work. Right? I'll start right after the Phillies win the World Series. The 8:30 game times make it difficult to get out of the bed to run.

Eastern Pen. Breakout 5K

I was shivering in my shorts while filling out the race registration. It was going to be a cool blustery race. The perfect temp for me to be running, but cold when your standing around waiting to race. Heather and I bumped into Steve G. and for the second race in a row I chatted with Steve before the race began.

My goal was to take the first mile hard but hold back a little and try to pick it up during the race. After the the initial rabbits dropped of I was in 4th place. #1 and #2 were quickly pulling away and definitely out of reach. The guy ahead of me was running about the pace I was aiming for so I just stayed behind and bided my time. Mile 1, 5:44. Seemed to fast for how good I was feeling and I decided that it was short, I'm not sure if it really was. The second mile of this race brings you into the campus of Girard College. We looped around and mile 2 passed in 6:07. That seemed about right.

I still had some gas in the tank and decided to make my move passed the guy ahead of me. I made sure to pass as quickly as I could sustain and I was lucky that he didn't answer. From here I just wanted to finish as hard as I could and I was thinking maybe, just maybe, sub 18:00. Down Corinthian Street and around Eastern State Penitentiary. I was giving it all I had but sub 18:00 was just a little to fast for me and I finished in 18:10. A decent time and a bit faster than I had predicted for myself before the start. A good race. More than 25 seconds off my PR but with the low mileage over the past several months, I'll take it.

I cheered Heather through the finish and she finished in third as well, just a few seconds off of last years time.

Late evening easy 4+ miles with Heather last night. We took the "Chestnut Hill Loop" at a very easy pace. The weather was quickly changing and I think the run ended 5 degrees cooler than it started. 4.2 miles in 38 minutes.

I start most runs by wondering what I want to listen to on my iPod. Five years ago this search would start in front my CD rack but now it begins with the twirl of a little wheel. Once in a while I have an album in mind, sometimes I search until something strikes my fancy and other times I'll try to find an album that matches my mood. Slow and mellow or fast and loud. Today it was Pisces Iscariot by the Smashing Pumpkins, I have not listened to this one in a while. This album came out in 1994 and brought me right back to my freshman year of college. I realized I could actually remember where and when I bought the CD. It pulled out many other memories as well.

The run started slow and a little stiff but after 4 miles things smoothed out and I settled into a nice pace. I think Philly is in the last burst of warmth before the cooler weather really takes hold and I built up a good almost summer like sweat by the end of the run. 7 miles in some unknown time because I forgot to restart my watch at 37 minutes.

I got 6 miles in with Heather on Thursday evening. All at a very easy pace with a nice stroll up Rex to finish things off. That hill has turned into a thing of dread for both Heather and I on many runs. Knowing you have half mile hill at at the finish when you aren't feeling to hot can make things tough. I try never to walk (at least when I am running by myself) but it still happens once in a while.

Saturday, I was a bit hungover from a long night of watching the Phillies and hanging out with some friends from work. I thought I had cleared my system by about 3:00 but the run told me otherwise. What's funny is that I didn't feel to bad until I stopped, then some slight nausea would sneak in and my headache would pop up. Of course the only solution was to keep moving and try to run over any hikers that got in my way. Unfortunately a couple kids got lost over the side on some narrow sections. Luckily there is water at the bottom and I think they were fine. 9+ miles in 71 minutes.

Sunday I was feeling much better and the weather was just perfect, not a cloud in the sky. I started the run with Heather and then off on my own after 4 miles. The fall foliage offered some sneak peaks and it looks like it might be a good year. After 5 miles on Forbidden Drive I hit the high trails. I kept the pace in the easy range and explored a few branches of the trails that I usually run by. I found a couple interesting little side jaunts but nothing to exciting. Around 11 miles in 87 minutes.

Last night I had 40 minutes to run between school and the start of the presidential debate and I made the most of it. It was an ideal evening with the temp about 55 and nearly no wind. I had a general loop route around Chestnut Hill in mind, along the way I constantly adjusted it in my mind to get me back to my door in exactly 40 minutes. My legs were itching to pick things up so I made it somewhat of a progression run and finished the last leg down my block at 400M pace. 5.8 miles in 40:27.

Heather and I got out the door late for a few miles. It was a tough evening in the Wesner household and it felt good to get out the door, run a few with Heather and talk. The more you run the more you realize that running has a lot more uses then just keeping you fit. 3 miles in 28:48

My unwillingness to get out of bed in the morning is putting a damper on the mileage totals. I end having to squeeze in evening runs and rushing my workout. It is an event filled weekend which only allowed me to squeeze in a 5 miler on Friday night in about 38 minutes.

Saturday was a DNF due to a family function.

Sunday was one of the best runs of the year and not because of the run but because of when the run occured. It just happened to start directly after the Phillies beat the Brewers to advance to NLCS. Go Phils!

The run was a hilly hard trip starting with the hill behind the Indian Statue and rolled the rest of the way. I finished with 1.5 fast miles on Forbidden Drive and I felt like I could have kept up the fast pace for a few more miles but had to get home. 8+ miles in 62 minutes.

Waning Daylight

A quick 6-7 miles in the Wissahickon this evening, I only have a few weeks remaining in the park, soon the early sunset will kick me out of the park and back onto the roads. I'll have to save the trails for Saturdays and Sundays. Tonight I ran 3 miles out on some of my favorite trails and the 3 miles back on Forbidden Drive. Not to hard and not to easy. 48 minutes.