It was 5:15 AM in the morning, cold, dark, and foggy on top of that. Temps were in the low 40s when I arrived at Rich's house to pick him up for our recovery trail run on Monte Sano mountain. We had planned to run 8 miles or so along the North and South Plateau Loops to stretch out our legs. Driving up the mountain was interesting. The visibility was extremely poor, maybe 50ft? I would have missed our turn to the state park had Rich not shouted to "turn right now". Once we got to the parking lot around 6 AM, we were the only ones there. We started our run and while Richard actually felt great, I was struggling with some sore muscles. However, this was not due to the 50K on Saturday, but rather due to a soccer match I played on Sunday. I hadn't played in almost 6 months and that layoff reminded me painfully of some muscle groups I had almost forgotten about. The trails on the mountain were beautiful. Everything was covered in a fog and the limited visibility just made for very interesting scenery out there. Another first for me; running on muddy trails in the fog.
It became clear to me very early into the run that I wasn't going to run anywhere near 8 miles today. While I kept my heart rate at a very comfortable level in the low 140s, I just did not have any spring in my step. I hated to disappoint Richard, who had a busy week ahead of him with little time to get training runs in, but I had to be smart about it. After about 3.5 miles, Richard suggested to cut the run down to a short 4 miler. I was very happy to oblige. At least we were stretching our legs out. Hopefully, my muscles will recover enough for some training runs later in the week.