Sunday I ran the Jonas Cattell 10 mile Run – The run originates in Haddonfield NJ and finishes @ National Park, NJ /Red Bank Battlefield Park.

“Jonas Cattell was born in 1758, on a farm called Lavender Hills. The farm was located just outside Woodbury, New Jersey, in what is now the town of Deptford. While growing up, Jonas loved the outdoors and exploring the woods and trails in the area. He was known as a fast runner; in more recent times, he was listed in Ripley’s Believe It or Not for hand-delivering a letter from Woodbury to Cape May and back, 160 miles, on foot, in two days. And at the age of 18, in October 1777, Jonas became a hero.”

The 10 mile run, in it’s 46 year, reenacts Jonas Cattell’s run from Haddonfield to Fort Mercer in National Park to warn the Patriots of the pending attack from the Hessians – those being the German auxiliaries contracted by the British government.  Amazingly, the 1st female was Julie Cattell, a decent of Jonas…

I’ve been training for the Philadelphia Marathon for the last 2.5 months.  I  started with a good base and logged one eighteen miler and three twenty+ runs – The last 22 miler was done in Philly and incorporated the last part of the marathon and Forbidden Dr (one of my favorite places to run).

My right Calf/Achilles  has been a chronic issue for me and it surfaced again on the last half of this particular run…I decided to take a couple of days off, walked and invested in a 1.5 hour massage.  By the end of the week I felt good enough to run again and put in a couple of easy 5 milers.

My marathon plan called for a 12 mile run on Sunday so I thought I’d join some of my running club (SJAC) friends and run the Jonas Cattell run as an easy long run… Ahhh….the best laid Plans….
The 1st mile I could feel the stress in my Achilles and by mile 6th I was done, limping across the finish line…

I’ve run this race many times in the past and have always enjoyed it’s low keyed, local fare.  Many memories, including once running most of the course with Dr Tom Osler, a running legend and role model of mine and many.

I found this picture of me, Jessica and JT taken after one Jonas Cattell run enjoying the afternoon in National Park.  I can only guess at the date circa 1982 maybe….

I KNOW I probably should have stopped when I first felt the Achilles acting up…But I didn’t and I am probably going to forfeit my marathon plans for November because of it… but I am content in knowing that I marked another memorable Jonas Cattell run and will take my “medicine” of rest – looking forward to when I can run again….