August 17, 2013 - Doing a Long Run in Putnam County

On Saturdays, I do a longer run.  Sometimes it is part of some half marathon training that I am going through, and today actually was week one of a 12 week half marathon plan.  I only had to go 4 miles today, but since I have been doing 5 mile long runs off and on all summer, I went ahead and decided to try for 5.  
I ran at the Big Walnut Sports Park, a really great open space multi-purpose park on the East side of Greencastle.  It has soccer fields, baseball and softball fields, a playground, a disc golf course, and a great paved trail that runs around the perimeter.  It also links up to "people pathways" which is a trail that runs through Greencastle.  I went around the park and hit the pathway and ran up to the Taco Bell and then headed back.  I had a great day to run with the temperature being in the 70s and the wind cooling me off.  The openness of the area allows for some great breezes when you run there.

Walker and I on a run

As I returned to the park, I was hoping for my second wind to kick in, but it never did.  I grossly underestimated the effect that my allergies would have on my efforts to run 5 miles.  I typically don't hit a wall, but today I definitely did.  I was pushing my son in the jogging stroller, which probably slows me down, although I almost always run an 11 minute mile when doing distance runs, even with the jogger.  Regardless, it is a great way to get my son to take a long nap.

As I finished I talked with a woman who had just moved here who was using the facility for the first time.  She and I had a nice chat about where to run in the community and I found out that she did marathons.  I took her name and number, but I am guessing that she takes this a lot more seriously than I do.  I will probably use the sports park for most of my long runs, since it is fairly flat.  Otherwise, I will find a good country road path once I get bored of the paved trail.

Just FYI, there is a Putnam County running group on facebook, technically called the Greencastle Running Club.  There are numerous 5Ks and informal runs on a lot of weekends.  We are also close enough to Indianapolis to take advantage of running opportunities there too. One of the trails I have used in training for a hike is the rail-to-trail path that goes from Greencastle to Fillmore... and I just found out that they are extending it to Avon!