Running: Vacation running

The next part of my running update includes mostly runs that took place during my vacation.  I took a little road trip to Washington, DC, and the first thing I packed was my running shoes.

Dear Brooks, Gazelle, Dr V, and other interested parties,

Yes, my Beasts and my running program, along with all the benefits attached thereto, really are that important to me.

Sincerely,

Darrell

***

Wednesday, 3 June:  5.59 miles, 54:08, 9:40.9/mile

Wednesday’s run took place in Springfield, Ohio.  I got up in the morning and went out with something vaguely resembling a plan.  I mostly figured out where I was supposed to be going, aside from a slight detour down too far down the street in front of the hospital.  The course was fairly hilly, and the weather was a bit muggy, but it wasn’t a bad run.

Thursday, 4 June:  5.48 miles, 54:16, 9:54.1/mile

Thursday’s run took place in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.  I believe that “Uniontown” is an old Native American term that means, “We built this town on the least-flat place we could find.”

Yeah, so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.  If you’ve ever read this blog before, you’re used to that.

There were four harsh hills in this run.  Fortunately, there was a nice downhill portion of the run after the second hill.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting the second two hills to be nearly as rough as they were.

Dear MapMyRun.com,

Ouch.

Sincerely,

Darrell

***

Saturday, 6 June:  10.24 miles, 1:42:44, 10:02/mile

Saturday’s run was supposed to start in Arlington, Virginia, and take me across a bridge into Washington, District of Columbia, before returning me to Arlington.  Unfortunately, the trail map I found doesn’t really jive with the way things are really laid out; well, either that, or the trail is completely unsigned.  Either way, my plans were stymied, so I stayed in Arlington, running north from where I was staying until I reached the W&OD Trail (formerly the line of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad), then ran out the trail until I ran out of trail, then ran a couple more local streets before turning around and returning whence I came.  Once again, it was a bit of a hilly course, and the weather was extremely muggy, but I got through okay.  The course was so much fun that …

Sunday, 7 June:  3.19 miles, 31:41, 9:55.9/mile

… I did a portion of the same route on Sunday.  Hills are fun … or something.

Monday, 8 June:  5 miles, 43:47, 8:45.5/mile

I got back into Schoolcraft and had enough time to get in my run before the village’s planning commission meeting … if I hurried.  So, I hurried.  It was wicked hot, but I got through in time for the planning commission meeting.

Tuesday, 9 June:  5 miles, 46:05, 9:12.9/mile

I “celebrated” my last day of vacation by running my Maple Street run with my Monday group of friends.  We had a good run, despite the very steep climb.

Thursday, 11 June:  6.05 miles, 58:28, 9:39.8/mile

I wasn’t able to catch up with my regular group for this run, so I went down to Portage and ran the Bicentennial Trail.  I did run into the Gazoom trainees.  I ran a little over a mile with Alana, which is always fun.  I got to visit with Pam, which is also always fun.  The six-mile run was a good one, though I felt like I was pushing a little bit on the back half of the run … largely because I was.