It’s been a while, no?

But I’m still running. Still getting out and hitting the streets here in the Philly suburbs. It’s odd, running in the suburbs, passing houses with manicured lawns and then, as I venture up into the hilly sections, large mansions with large yards and everything perfectly placed and color-coordinated.

I miss seeing the mountains. I don’t think I could live somewhere without mountains. They define my life. They are always there, shouldering up the horizon. I hadn’t realized how much I depend on them.

Yet, there is beauty everywhere. Some days, running near dusk, I round a curve by the river and the city skyline opens up and it’s so beautiful and exotic that my eyes water and it all just feels so surreal, as if I’m in a movie.

It snowed here when I first arrived last month, that big East Coast “blizzard” that was all over the news, remember?

By Alaska standards, it wasn’t much. It was a teeny-weeny bit ‘o snow, and it melted within a week.

I’ve reduced my mileage to about 30 miles a week and am concentrating on speed before heading back to Alaska and my normal long-distance trail runs. Presently, my long runs top out at about 10-12 miles and I do tempo and speed intervals each week (4-5 miles at tempo pace @ 7:50-8 minute pace and 4-6 half mile intervals @ 6:50-7:10 pace).

Since I’m running predominantly on pavement and since my legs are old, I’m trying like hell not to stress them out too much. I’ve been foam rolling like crazy. But there are trails; I just have to run quite a few miles of roads and sidewalks to get to them.

What’s really special, though, is each weekend my sister and I head out to the Schuylkill River Trail and I run 2.5 miles with here before heading out to finish the rest of the loop.

We run along the river, past Boat House Row and then up to the Philly Art Museum, where the big attraction is the Rocky statute. No matter the weather, there’s always a long line of tourists waiting to get their pics taken with “Rocky.”

What I’ve loved about my time here in Philly (besides soaking up the sister love), is the realization that you can find cool places to run, no matter where where you’re at.

Weekly mileage: 30-35 miles, blah, blah, blah

Cool news: There’s another race on my birthday this year (!!). Last year we ran the Knoya Ridge Race on my birthday (they had cupcakes and cookies after but sadly, it wasn’t in celebration of my birthday).

This year the Anchorage Running Club’s Trent/Waldron Glacier Half Marathon is on my birthday. So sweet! I’m hoping to PR but probably I won’t. Because as soon as I get back to Alaska and the trails open up for the spring, I’ll forget about speed and pace and just want to run on the trails for a long, long time. My endurance will increase but my speed will go all to hell, not that I’m actually that fast to begin with, hee, hee.

Happy running, everyone.