On Thursday night I headed into the Wissahickon for a mountain bike ride. I had a little over an hour and I put together a fun and challenging loop. Mountain biking is bit like an interval, or fartlek workout. Fairly short intense bouts of exercise on the climbs, steady state pushing on the flats and hold on tight recoveries on the rock downhills. It really is a blast and I think it was a good approximation of the 5 miles running workout I had originally planned for the evening.

This morning I met Deirdre and new guy Scott for a long loop in the Wissahickon. It was not surprisingly hot and humid when I met them at 8:30. We set out on some hilly trails and kept the pace easy. We kind of wandered through the park and made up the route as went along eventually ending up on Forbidden Drive about 4.5 miles from the car.

At this point we were all dragging and conversation ebbed as we tried to keep things going in the heat. I peeled off with about a mile to go and headed up that damn Rex hill to my house. A great run. I was tired and spent by the end but not dead like I was at the end of the long run last week. I will call it a conservative 14 miles in 1:55.

This afternoon Heather and I head upstate to Jim Thorpe, PA. Yes, the town is named after the Native American athlete who is considered one of the most versatile athletes ever, playing both professional football, baseball, basketball and competing in the Olympics. It's a small town on the edge of what passes for mountains in Pennsylvania. Heather is competing in an Olympic distance triathlon. I am looking forward to cheering her on and hopefully putting a couple runs in.