Long Hot Weekend

Friday night I took an easy recovery run with Heather in the Wissahickon. It was warm and horribly humid. At these humidity levels the sweat refuses to evaporate and even after only 5 easy miles it's dripping from your shirt. My legs felt decent and I knew they would be ready for the a long run on Saturday morning, I was just worried about the weather.

I think Saturday morning was even worse, there was condensation on my storm windows and my front door, two things I haven't seen before. It was going to be rough. Ian mapped out a route that is similar to my last couple long runs with a bit more distance added at the far end. I stashed some water around the midway point and met Ian, Seebo, Deirdre and Craig in front of the Art Museum.

After a mile I was wiping sweat from my brow and all of our shirts were soon soaked through with sweat. Despite this, the run was going well, we had a good group and the pace was just right. We made our way down the Belmont hills and eventually all the way up the face of the first big hill which Ian has dubbed the "Bad Tipper". After a little direction from a girl walking her dog we found the first turn into new running territory which happened to be directly in front of our faces.

A long downhill and than a steep uphill which I believe has overtaken the Bad Tipper as the worst hill in the area. It needs a name and I am willing to hear other options but my gut feeling right now is the "Fuck YOU Hill!" hill. At this point point the group was stringing out and yo-yoing back together as the road went up and down towards the river.

A quick pit-stop for some water and then another hill. This hill didn't seem so bad but after mapping it out I realize that it was actually the worst hill of the day. It was made more difficult by a wrong turn that I talked everyone into making, but which also mercifully cut a couple miles off of the route.

At this point I was starting to drag as was everyone else it seemed. Despite the water I was carrying and drinking the entire way I was getting dehydrated. Ian and Seebo were pulling ahead, I was trying to keep up with Deirdre, a task that was getting more difficult with each mile, and Craig was hanging on the back.

It all became a slow grind towards the Art Museum and we couldn't get there fast enough. Misery does love company and Deidre and I pushed on as quickly as we could both grateful that we had the other to keep us going. At one point I told Deidre that we need to talk about something happy to take our minds off of things and she said "I can't". I shut up and just focused on finishing.

18.5 miles in 2 hours and 36 minutes. That translates to 8:10 pace, my slowest and most difficult long run in a couple years. I was happy to see Craig finishing up behind us and then Ian came up the hill a couple minutes later. We discussed how much the run sucked but how we were better for it and then all headed home.

I always keep an eye on my weight pre and post run. When I got on the scale at home I was down 7 lbs but this was after drinking nearly 180 ounces of water/OJ both during and after the run. It is no wonder the run felt like it did.

On Sunday Heather and I were again running the Wissahickon. 3 miles on Forbidden Drive and 3.5 on some trails. 6.5 miles in 56 minutes. My legs felt good.

60.4 miles for the week in 6 runs.

Next week is scheduled as a recovery week and is only 52 miles with a long run of 14.