I Got Off Track

I had been thinking about it for a while now. Earlier this week I made the decision that this weekend I was actually going to do it.

I was going to venture forth. I was going to explore uncharted territory. I was going to go where no man had gone before.

I was going to go jogging on an actual PATH, instead of just circling a track.

And I did it.

I am right this minute, sitting on the couch with a bag of frozen corn on my left knee and a bag of frozen green beans on my right knee. I can feel that my face is still a bright, beety red, but the pain in my right side has gone away.

I looked up the trail before I left the house to see how long it was. 1.9 miles. No sweat. I usually do 1.5 or 2 at the track. And once last year I did 3. No sweat.

A few minutes into the jog I had a major DUH moment. I thought to myself, wow, this is harder than a track. Well DUH. It's cement - not that nice springy stuff that tracks use. And there are HILLS. I didn't think about it not being flat. And as I was thinking oh thank goodness, DOWNHILL, I wasn't thinking about how coming back, that was all going to be UPHILL.

Also, now, this probably would be an obvious thing to most people, but it didn't occur to me at the time: That means 1.9 miles AWAY from the car. In order to get back to the car to be able to drive home, was another 1.9 miles.

And yes, I know, at any point all I have to do is stop jogging and walk. But then I wouldn't know how far I ran. And it was bad enough that I forgot to start the timer on my watch. I couldn't stand the thought of not only not knowing exactly how long I jogged for, but also not knowing how far I went.

So I just jogged the whole way.

That's right - 3.8 miles. That is further than a 5k (3.1 miles).

Like I said, I didn't start my watch, but I glanced at the dashboard clock either on the way there or when I got there, and I looked again after I got back and finished stretching. It took me about an hour. On average, that is incredibly slow. I think the average 5k time is about 25-30 minutes.

But I'm okay with that. I enjoyed the scenery. I saw a yard with 5 basset hounds. I saw pretty wisteria trees, and 2 rabbits. I smiled, waved and said good morning to 6 people. I listened to good music.

And I did 3.8 miles.

Oh, and, that 11:30 Pilates class I am supposed to go to? I don't think so.