I ran my second half marathon of the season yesterday. My goal is to try to run that distance about once a month from October through April or so. I definitely think it’s doable, but every time I run a half, I wonder to myself how the heck people run full marathons. Maybe that will seem more attainable over time as I work on my conditioning for longer runs. I was trying to take it kind of easy yesterday, and the run felt pretty good, but was very slow, with an average pace of around 11:40/mile. The only discomfort I felt was the pesky ache in the top of my left foot, which I’ve had on and off for years. Not sure what causes it, but it never seems to get any better or any worse. Massage gun, stretching, and trigger point release with a golf ball all help somewhat, and I’ve just kind of learned to live with it. Other than that, I can tell my body is getting back into shape for longer runs, as I feel fully recovered 36 hours later and ready to run again tomorrow morning.

This morning, I got out for my annual paddle on the tidal Patapsco, launching at Southwest Area Park (which was quite busy on this balmy October morning). I paddled upstream and back for a total distance of 5.6 miles. The water was as high as I had ever seen it. At 3 hours past high tide, it was up near the top of the concrete boat launch ramp, and the adjacent pier looked like it had been underwater at high tide. I suspect that the culprit was onshore flow from a strong south to southeast wind. I had to turn around just past MD 648 due to time constraints, but I’m curious how far upstream I could have gotten given more time. Usually, I can make it to around the MD 295 overpass, or I-695 if I’m lucky, before the water gets too shallow to continue. I’ll have to see if I can get here another time when conditions are similar.