Untitled by fin16 at Garmin Connect - Details
Today was an awesome day. Very cold out but clear. Good running partners are very hard to find. I am so very fortunate that mine is game for pretty much everything. So when I text saying something like " What do you think about exploring for a 2 hour run tomorrow morning?", she always says "What time!?". So fortunate : )
We figured that we would start out at Kittatiny State Park and just go......and go .....and go. In my prep for the 3 Days at the Fair, I am learning that time on my feet is the only way to successfully complete this event. Slow running is hard for me. I have psoriatic arthritis, and I have found that walking fast and slow running actually stiffen my knees more than faster tempo runs. Running a 12 to 14 minute mile is going to be tough, but this is what this event needs. For me at least. When KK and I run together we are constantly checking our pace on our Garmins and making sure we're not flying, and just running a sustainable pace. This was my plan today, to make sure we keep our pace consistent and doable.
We decided to head over to the red/blue/green trail and pick up where we left off last week. My goal was to take 2 hours and just explore. We did just that! It was awesome coming across a new trail and being able to say "let's see where it goes!". When KK and I first started running together, we had a tough time keeping up a constant conversation going. Now we have a hard time NOT talking! It's awesome. We cover so many topics there's never a lull. Runner's World recently did an article on this phenomenon. Ever wonder why we sometimes tell our running partners more than, say, our spouses or even our best girlfriends? KK had a thought on this. She said that since the majority of the time you're looking straight ahead and there is no actual direct eye contact. Interesting.
I was trying out a Camelbak that I had purchased about a year ago. Since it was a return and had no bladder, I got it for $12! Couldn't beat that, since I already had a few spare bladders at home. Anyway, it was a kids/women's version so I figured it would fit perfectly. From the get go, I was constantly fiddling with the straps in an effort to keep it from sloshing around. Once I found the right tightness, everythig seemed to fall into place.
We hopped from the White trail to the Blue, to the Green, over to the Sussex Branch Trail and then over to the Red Trail. We just went and went and went! It was awesome. Eventually, we came out of the woods close to 1.5 hours into it, so we figured we would start heading back towards the cars. We came out on the road at about 1:45 minutes. Finishing at this point was good for me and a great start for longer runs to come.
