Darkness On The Edge Of Town

It's become somewhat of a non running joke over the first six weeks of my off season training that I've failed miserably to get remotely close to my desired five day/50 mpw total,rather than reel off a laundry list of reasons/excuses and boo hoo it I'm reminded of something my former coach would tell me back in the day"you can't chase after lost miles"
W/ that in mind and taking a "quality over quanity" mindset I aim to make the last six weeksof off season count beginning w/ {hopefully!!!} the first five day/fifty mile week his week.....even if I have to be unconventional in doing so........which ought to suit yours truly as the poster child of all things unconventional!!!!

Kicking off the week was the first of three scheduled 10 milers,right now the weather forecast for Thursday calls for rain but that could change between now and then....if it dosen't then I'll have to forgo the "Pagan Sabbath" and run 8 miles on Friday b4 going long on Saturday over 12 miles to make 50 miles as I have a non running commitment in NYC on Sunday that takes a run out of the equation.
There's little to no"margin for error" but I keep telling myself if I can get that first week of 50miles under my belt I can build some momentum going forward,I thought I had it two weeks ago till my knee  became an issue,the status on my knee so far is the investment of a Copper Fit knee sleeve and daily icing has improved it.....the sixty four billion dollar question is will it hold up to a whole week of training......watch this space....

W/ the clocks going back on Sunday last nite was my first taste of having to run in the dark,at least for now the later half of the run,as the weeks go by it'll get darker earlier {obviously!!!} but come December 15th I'll transition back to 40mpw w/ weekday runs over 6 to 8 miles but even so between now and mid to late Febuary I'm looking at running part,some and eventuall all of my runs in the dark.........should've listen to my mother when I was younger and eaten my Carrots I guess!!!
I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of sundown and where I'd be on the out and back 10 miler,setting off at 4.20pm and averaging roughly 9 minute mile pace I probably reached the turnaround b4 St Joe's boathouse around 5.05pm,at this stage there was still day light and the lights along Kelly Dr were unlit on the way out.......
Remarkably in the 18 minutes it took after the turnaround to reach mile 7 and Boathouse  Row it was now dark and thankfully the lights were now on,the last vestige of daylight was long gone by the time I reached mile 8 along the new path on the Schuylkill towards South St bridge.

Roughly a 90 min run which is fine and dandy w/ me,I will say this for all the training runs I've missed/blown/ over the past 6 weeks I'm pleasently surprised at my level of conditioning,granted it could be better and fingers crossed between now and December 13th it will be.....one run at a time