This morning, I was lazy and didn’t get up until 7 am. Staying up until midnight to watch the Braves beat the Dodgers may have been the cause.
I got out just after 8:30 am and ran from my house across the Chatham Bridge through town to the end of Lee Drive. The nice part of an out and back course is when you are eight miles away from home and are guaranteed to finish the remaining eight miles to get home.
The temperature rose from 48 degrees at 8:30 am to 67 degrees by 11:30.
I was a wimp and wore shorts over compression shorts and a singlet over a long-sleeve shirt. It wore gloves and a neck gaiter until 10:45.
Today was the first day I ran this course since August 26, 2019.
There has been a lot of construction on this course in the last two years. There is a new bridge and a new park on Sophia Street.
I was happy the light signal crossing Blue Gray Parkway had not changed. Usually, I run on Lafayette Blvd around Deadman Curve on the side of the road facing traffic. When I get to Blue Gray, I’m on the side of the road away from the crosswalk. The signal at this intersection had not changed with westbound traffic through and left first, followed by eastbound. On the way back, I usually use the crosswalk as that is on the side facing traffic.
Heading up the hill, Lafayette Blvd has a new traffic circle. I cut across the grass to avoid the travel lanes.
When I got onto Lee Drive, NPS had laid a new surface of pea gravel. They had done this same resurfacing about ten years ago. First, they place a layer of pea gravel, crush it down, and then top it with an asphalt layer. This construction is supposed to resemble the type of surfaces used in the 1800s. The final texture will feel rough.
Today’s run on Lee Drive was the same as run on any gravel jeep trail.
I planned to run for 2 hours and 50 minutes. I had two bottles of UCAN. I broke the expected time into nine segments and set my countdown timer to 19 minutes. With each interval, I walked for 2 minutes and drank one-quarter of a bottle.
I got through my first checkpoint faster than I should have and gave a big roh-roh ala Scobie Doo. I felt good through the following two checkpoints and at the turnaround in 1:23:03. Coming back, I was faster through the first two checkpoints. But, I faded in the last 4 miles and did the return in 1:24:58.
My 2:48:01 was 6 minutes faster than the same runs in August 2019. I am down about 20 pounds from August 2019. I guess dropping the excess weight and cooler temperatures do make a difference.
Next week is my traditional three weeks before JFK trail run from Weverton.
I’ll keep moving and hope for the best.