Another Evening in Chestnut Hill

The shortening days have forced me to take to the streets for my weekday runs, and I have to get them in after dark. On Tuesday evening, I ran through Mt. Airy, following Ardleigh Street to where it intersected with Washington Avenue.

Unfortunately, as I started out I was unaware that the outbound trip from my house is downhill, so I wasn't prepared for the return trip. I made it, of course, and completed my four miles on streets close to my house. I also ran without walk breaks, so the run seemed particularly arduous. Even my time wasn't very good by my already low standards: I ran at a roughly 11'15" pace.

East Mt. Airy, alas, has fewer wide residential streets than the adjacent neighborhood, Chestnut Hill. On Thursday evening, then, I decided to run from my house through Chestnut Hill. Furthermore, I planned out my run so that most of it would be on asphalt rather than on the concrete sidewalks.

I ran at an even slower pace than two evenings before. I did take walk breaks, but I also had not slept well the previous two nights. I also forgot to wear my reflective vest, so I was more nervous about cars. It was, nevertheless, a great evening for a run, and I was happy to get out. And, notwithstanding my slower pace, the run did help me to alleviate some stress. In short, it was one of those runs that made me feel good about running.

Crazy Eight

One of the great advantages of using a running GPS is that it obviates the needs to plan out one's run too carefully. This morning, faced with some tight constraints on my time (due to my failure to begin my run earler), I knew that was going to have to lop off the more time-consuming parts of my usual long-run ritual. In my case, this is the drive to and from the parking lot above Valley Green. Instead, I knew that I was going to need to run from the moment I left my front door. Fortunately, my GPS made it possible for me to gauge my distance.

Today's run, then, took me from my house, through Chestnut Hill, down Valley Green Road, onto the orange and white trails, to Forbidden Drive, and back. I'd avoided this course until now and would have continued to do so had I other options. Indeed, not having consulted a map beforehand, I nevertheless had intended to find a path to Forbidden Drive with a less strenuous route back. Instead of taking the fork from Springfield Avenue to Valley Green Road, I followed Springfield through a neighborhood until the road dumped me out onto Valley Green Road. From there, I realized that my best shot at hitting Forbidden Drive would be to continue downhill.

Still, I avoided a direct route to Forbidden Drive. Instead, I got onto the orange trail and then onto the white trail (which runs above the orange trail) before it once again meets the orange trail. When I reached the first Rex Avenue bridge, I crossed over to Forbidden Drive and followed it out to Bell's Mill Road.

When I turned around, I became aware that I was going to be able to get my eight miles in if I returned roughly the way I came. This would mean, however, that I would have to ascend the hill from Valley Green Inn to the junction with Springfield Avenue. I adjusted my strategy accordingly: instead of taking one-minute walk breaks every three minutes as I had been doing, I reduced the time between breaks to two minutes. And, sure enough, I was able to make it up the hill comfortably. From there, I continued home, completing eight miles far enough out that the walk home would give me the opportunity to get my heart rate down to close to 100 bpm.

Runs like these build confidence. I now know that running up the hill from Valley Green is not so daunting. Of course, it helped that the temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s with low humidity. Yet I believe a more important factor contributing to the success of my uphill climb was the slower pace that I took. By resisting the urge to run too fast up the hill, I was able to conquer it. Perhaps I even learned a lesson about pacing in the process.