Cherry Blossoms and Row Boats

Today I went on my long (read really long) run. I decided to shake things up a bit and run down at Kelly Drive. This, as I have said before, is the nicest part of Philadelphia. The shores of the river are lined with cherry blossom trees, statutes, and other manicured areas. It really is an excellent place to run. The whole thing forms an 8.4 mile loop. I did two loops today plus a little extra for 17 miles.

The trees were all in bloom adding splashes of white and pink for my run. It reminded of my time living (and visiting) in Tokyo. It really did make the miles melt away as I did them. Added to this was the fact that there are lots and lots of runners out there doing the same thing. This is a nice change from my normal routes where I usually see only one or two folks running. I do like to share the road with like minded people.

The other interesting thing today was that there was a regatta on the river. Rowing is an interesting sport. It was a nice distraction to watch the boats race by as I was running along. It really was a nice three hours.

The numbers: I started strong doing the first 10 miles between 10:20 and 11:00 pace. The first 6 were around a 10:30 pace. The next few miles were at a little below 11:00 pace. Then the trouble started. Miles 15 - 17 were not anything to write home about. I hit a mini wall and could only manage about 11:45 per mile for this distance. In the larger scope of things this is quite good. I remember running down these last few miles during the Philly Distance Run (miles 10 to 13) feeling spent and putting 12:30 to 13:30 minute miles together. I think this is quite a good improvement in 6 months. I do think I could have kept up the 11:45 for another 4 to 6 miles if necessary. When the marathon comes up I will have to start out slower. The end result was 17 miles at a 10:58 pace (half marathon pace was 10:46 - a pr).

This is one of my favorite parts of Philadelphia.