Running with PTC

Went up to Manayunk this morning to run long with the Philadelphia Track Club guys. Going up there always gives me a sense of dread, cuz these guys are out of my league. I got up there a bit early to run 20 extra minutes with guys that wanted more than the 2 hours that comprises the usual Sunday morning run. So far so good. We get back and then about 15 or so of us take off for the regular run. Five guys start pulling ahead, I let them go, and I get into the second group with Ross and Tim. Never did find out what happened to everyone else, but different folks do different runs, depending on what they're training for.

What's long and slow for Ross and Tim amounts to long and hanging on for me, and hang on I did. They were gracious about having me with them, but if I slowed them down from what they wanted to do I couldn't tell it. As usual, we ran Forbidden Trail all the way up to the horse stables by Northwest Ave and then took a long hill up Germantown Ave toward Chestnut Hill. A right, a left, and a few more turns and I was hopelessly lost and turned around in leafy green and shady Chestnut Hill/Mount Airy. Now if I didn't hang on I wouldn't know how to get home. A powerful incentive to push it. To make a long run short, we ended up back on Forbidden Trail, took it north again to Valley Green Inn, got water, and ran the last half hour back down Forbidden Trail, across the Wissahickon trail, and then the homestretch up Ridge Ave, on a brutal and sun baked hill, back to the PTC house. On the last stretch, esp. on FT, I got a second wind and really felt good as we got the pace down well into the sub 7 zone.

As I probably say whenever I run with these guys, this is exactly what I need to be doing more of. Not just for the physical conditioning but to get in the mindset that I can train faster and, ergo, run faster.

Call it, conservatively, 19 miles in 2:19:13.