Lehigh Valley Photos and Reflections

Here is a link to the photos from the trip

It's been a few days since the race and I've had a chance to get out and do a couple of easy runs and everything seems to be feeling good now. I was quite a bit sore from this one but that is not surprising considering the all out effort of racing a marathon for time. I'm still feeling very good about the results for my race too. The primary goal was to go under 3:45 and secondary would have been to run 3:40.

Had I not already run a Boston Qualifier in March I would not have done the Double Grandfather Marathon in July so I could focus more on this race. Since I have not done much in the way of ultra's in the past two years I knew my recovery time would be longer now than when I was running an ultra or marathon on an average of every 3 weeks. But everything worked out ok and although with the excessive heat this summer I was still able to recover enough to run a quality race at Lehigh Valley. I was beginning to worry if I had been able to get in the quality of workouts I needed with the hot, humid conditions and the race being in early Sept instead of later in the Fall than I would have liked but it all worked out.

Looking back over the race I really don't know that there is anything I could have done to run any faster. My effort was spread out very evenly from start to finish and I was able to pick it up and run a strong last mile to ensure I reached my goal. Although I was certainly getting tired I never felt bad and there was never any doubt that I wouldn't run close to that time. I'm sure that my many years and miles of experience at running on trails helped me to navigate the rougher sections of the canal towpath and the puddles at a faster pace and maintain my focus. this gives me even more confidence that I will be able to run even faster and reach my next few goals over the Fall and into next Spring and Boston.

Apparently a good pre-race breakfast is two cups of Gevalia Costa Rican Peaberry and an Iced Honey Bun

So now I'll continue to take it easy and then it's back to training hard for the remaining Fall races coming up. Next up will be the Selma Railroad Run 5k. More about that later ! Stay tuned !