Today was another early run at the Lehigh Parkway. Benjamin has his cross country practice there, so I took advantage of that to get my own run in. To recover from Friday’s run, I had planned to just run 2 miles, but I felt really good and decided to keep going. Andrea was running this morning, as well, and I think being able to stay with her, for the most part, pushed me to keep going. Aside from the fact that I wanted to go to bed at 9PM because I was so tired, it felt pretty good.

Miles Run: 3.22
Time: 36 minutes, 9 seconds
Miles to Go: 82.41
Days to Go: 117
Average Miles Per Day Needed: 0.70

When I have run or walked in the Parkway in the past during the week, most people were friendly and were ready with a cheerful “Good Morning”. The seem very pleasant. Now, maybe this morning was an exception, but there seemed to be fewer people that seemed cheerful. Made me wonder if the people I was seeing on a weekend work busy jobs and have squeeze in a run or walk, upping their intensity. While those on the weekdays are either retired or work a job that allow them flexibility, causing them to be happier. I am probably reading too much into it, but it seemed odd.

The groups of older ladies were very friendly, though, and made me smile with their cheerful greetings.

Ben ran 9-1/2 miles this morning at a pretty good pace. I am so happy for him. On his own and with his AAU Track team and with his high school cross country team, he has built up a fitness that seems to be surprising him. I love watching it and love hearing him talk about it. Between him and Andrea’s running, I find it very inspiring.

Along the Little Lehigh there are always people fishing. This morning I passed a man who had just pulled up what looked like at least a 20 inch Golden Trout. It was a beautiful fish and as I passed the fisherman, I told him so. He looked at me with a huge smile, unable to hide his personal pride. I though that was pretty cool.

I’m starting to enjoy the running…I am getting more comfortable and that is really nice. Now I need to combine that with getting back on my weight loss program. With a little will power, I could be a new man by the time I complete this challenge.

It was especially nice to be able to talk about running with Andrea afterwards, while waiting for Ben to finish. We talked about other things, as well, and it was really pleasant to have that quiet time with her on a perfect late summer morning.

Overall, it was a fantastic start to a long weekend.

Andrea found this challenge online to run 100 miles between now and the end of the year. I have been wanting to run more consistently and have also been wanting to write more often, so I thought it was perfect. I figure I could run and document it here in my blog.