This weekend is offering up to be the hottest weekend so far this year, offering up temperatures in the 80’s .. thankfully I got out early this morning to get my 16 miler in (actually I ended up doing 16.4 miles). I continued training my long runs on the Lehigh Canal trails starting in Allentown and following through to Bethlehem and on through Friesburg (or something like that) .. I turned around somewhere out in the middle of nowhere (but still on the D&L trailbed) before realizing I ran too far. I passed a lot of nice people out running and biking today on the trails, it really added to the experience.

I wrote on Friday about my lower back being sore, which thankfully has gone away since I rested. I’m thinking its a sore muscle because I have been pushing it so hard in prep for the half marathon next week. I’m anticipating a decent time at the race based on how i’ve been training … and even as the week goes on, the weather is going to stay nice in the mornings, so i’m hopeful for a good day.

Its interesting how my motivation has returned so quickly .. maybe its the weather or the fact that the sun is rising just after 5:30am now, gearing me up to get up and get out … theres something about the morning sun that just motivates me and gets me out to run.

I hope to wrap the week up tomorrow with another 10 miles, not sure if i’ll stay local or head out a little bit on the trails … I don’t want to burn out running the trails, so maybe i’ll stay local or do a different section of the trail, we’ll have to see .. i’m slowly going to complete the entire course of the Lehigh Valley Health Network marathon so i’m ready for it (not sure if thats a good thing though or not)..

We’ll see how we feel in the morning I guess .. i expect to be sore since i haven’t done this many miles in one run for over a month. It could be a long day!