I ran 13.40km today. I started off at home and headed west, intending to join the forested hill I’d ran on quite a few times the past two years that I lived in Esch. Of course I didn’t quite know how to get there, so I mostly trusted my instincts in getting out of town. Turns out said instincts need some fine-tuning, as I briefly followed a dead-end and also ended up circling around the local cemetery.
I finally found the right road to follow out of town and after around 1.5km I slowly started gaining elevation. The increase was gradual, except for the last 200m. Around the 3km mark I had made it most of the way up towards the wooded area known as “Gaalgebierg”. From here, I soon joined a loop trail going over “Brucherbierg”. Following my usual set of trails, I know this loop takes around 3.5km. The loop was eventless – I encountered a few other runners and hikers, but mostly was alone.
With around 7km done and over 3km to get home, I knew it’d be wise to not force too much mileage on my out of shape self. And then I still turned right for another 3.5km loop. I had some knee pain, but other than that I was feeling fine. By the time I’d made it back down near town I was ready to call it a day.
I ended up running 13.4km in 1:27:10. This translated to an average pace of 6:31 min/km. The elevation gain was 192m, and my watch thinks I burned 1189 calories. Temperatures were between 11°C and 15°C, and I was wearing my second pair of Brooks Glycerin 9.