We Put the Train in Training

Since I had a day off today, and neither of my usual local routes are great for morning runs right now, I headed down to the rail trail for the first time since mid-December. It was a cold, clear, beautiful morning for a run. Did I mention cold? Weather.com said it was in the 40s, which for me means short sleeves or sleeveless. (I never said I was smart.) It was fine, except for my hands. It took about 3 miles before my hands warmed up. I was sure I was going to lose some fingers. I still might. Except, I'm typing; so probably not. I've got to remember to keep a pair of running gloves in my car for mornings like this.

At any rate, it was a very nice run. 3.5 miles north toward York from Brillhart Station, and then back for a total of 7 miles in 1:04:19. Good pace, and I felt great...except for my frostbitten fingers. I really feel like I've got my strength back these last two weeks. I can't yet run the mileage I was running last year, but I'm feeling confident that I can get back to it.


I also saw for the first time, and was briefly impeded by, a train using the tracks along the rail trail. That train stops in York, but this train (I know you can't see me because it's a blog post, but pretend I'm pointing at myself) isn't stopping until it crosses the finish line in Virginia Beach.

A Fogged Up, Rambling Sort of Blog Post

I've not been the best at getting my morning runs in over the last two months. However, I'm determined to do better, especially with summer's warm temperatures already here, meaning that if I don't get my miles in in the morning, I'm unlikely to at all. I've done a good job this week at getting up early on Monday morning for a run in Virginia Beach and then out for two morning runs on Wednesday and today.

Unfortunately on both Wednesday morning and today, I've woken up, checked weather.com, and found a Fog Alert. My York Haven route, with it's curvy, hilly, no-shoulder stretch of York Haven Road, can be scary in perfect weather. My other route, in Manchester, is annoying for morning runs during the school year. There's a lot of school traffic, and there's lots of pedestrians and kids waiting for the bus, which makes me feel like people are watching me. I know. Get over it.

So, on a day where visibility is a concern, my best option becomes loops around Cousler Park, just north of York. In the summer of 2008, I did most of my running around a 1.5 mile loop at the park, trying every day to run my two laps as fast as I could in training for 5Ks. Later that year, I started slowing the pace down a bit and gradually adding distance. As my runs more consistently were going 4-5 miles and taking longer, it became easier to run at a park closer to our house, even though it's hillier and doesn't have as many paths.

Aside from it being 20 minutes from home, I just don't like running anything longer than 3 miles at Cousler. It's not the park. It's me. I don't like running the same loop over and over again. At about 1.5 miles, it's short enough that I need several laps to get a good long run in, making it boring, but long enough that the laps seem to pass slowly. I'd much rather run a long out-and-back or 2 laps of a 3-mile loop than 4 boring laps around Cousler.

(In summary: If you're reading this and are from the York, PA area, Cousler Park is a really nice place to run -- it's just a bad fit for me and my picky route preferences.)

But anyway, I returned twice this week to my old stomping grounds. Wednesday's fog warning proved to be much ado about nothing. It was warm and very humid and gross, and between that and a little bit of a late start it was a struggle to just get 3 miles in.

Today's fog warning was the real deal, but it was a little cooler and I was a little more resolved to have a good run, and in doing so I discovered the exact combination of distance (5.5 miles) and humidity (100%) that renders a normally reliable iPod Shuffle almost completely nonfunctional*.



According to Garmin, this run, at 6.3 miles, was my longest run, since the comeback tour began and according to me, it's a good ending to my best week of running since a mid-December week when I logged 17 miles (13 of which was on my last real long run of the year).

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*It would randomly stop playing every few seconds. It seems to be working again now that it's out of the fog. Phew!

**I guess my Garmin knows that I'm just looking for an excuse to throw it in some body of water -- it functioned perfectly in the fog.

Creature of the Night

"Be careful," said my wife, Chris. "Don't do anything silly." What? Do you mean something silly like run 10 miles in an hour and 35 minutes through Manchester and Mt Wolf in the middle of the night with my goofy headlight and a bright yellow-green shirt so shiny it could wake the dead?

I've really enjoyed nighttime running lately, for a variety of reasons. First of all, I don't have to get up early. That's always a plus. Throughout the year I've not done as well at getting up to run before work in the morning. Earlier in the year, since I work from home, I could go for a run at lunch. Lately, we've finally gotten some very welcome warmer weather, but since my preferred running temperature is really 30-50 degrees, my best options are morning or the middle of the night.

But, in addition to the temperature, I enjoy the atmosphere of running at night -- the peace and quiet and the way the landscape is different from the day.

And lastly, I like the faux elite-ness it conveys upon me -- I may never qualify for Boston, but I'm the fastest one in Mt. Wolf in the middle of the night.


But I'll carry some holy water and a crucifix just in case...

Branching Out

It's Sunday night, my least favorite time of the week. No amount of excellent TV ("The Simpsons" still comes through occasionally, "Family Guy" of course, and "Game of Thrones" and "The Borgias" are two newer favorites) can disguise the fact that the whole work week looms ahead. But this is my running blog, not my TV blog or my dislike of Sunday nights blog. I'll be sure to let you know when I start writing those.

I ran 8 miles in 1:10:10 yesterday morning, which I believe is among my fastest paces ever for that distance. If I hadn't forgotten to register for the Broad Street Run, which took place this morning, this means I probably could have easily have broken 1:30, which was my goal last year, when I wilted in the unseasonably hot morning. I started to say "when I decided to hold back", but I think it was more a matter of "couldn't go fast" than "decided not to").

But anyway...I'd planned on switching my route up a little, and taking Board Rd and Wago Rd down into Mt. Wolf, but road construction interfered with my plans. I took a different road into Mt. Wolf, but just had to run around the town to make up the miles that I would have gotten on Wago. It was nice, I found a new place to run that's very close to home and also has lots of cross streets to run on, and most of them have sidewalks.

Thus, last week's Honor Bus 5K, in addition to being a good race, introduced me to a new running locale, which I think will be helpful this spring and summer -- I'm getting sick of the neighborhood I've been running in, and I don't like to run down to Goldsboro in summer because if I get overheated I'm potentially 5 miles away from home or car or at night in any weather because the roads are so narrow.

The downside is, as the name "Mt. Wolf" implies, it's really hilly. If any York County runners read this, and you know a nice, mostly flat place for a long run, I'd love to know it. It's like Manchester is on top of one hill, Mt Wolf another, and York Haven another, so wherever I go, I have to climb and descend some steep hills. I know this is good, since almost no race will be this hilly, but I don't like putting my knee through it every single time.

At any rate, though, it was a nice run in a nice new locale, and I'm looking forward to getting some more good miles in this week.