Country Roads, Take Me Home....

August 28, 2012

My youngest daughter had cheer leading practice tonight at the local gym so I decided to gather my running gear and go run while she learned how to stand on the other girls' shoulders.  The gym is on the outskirts of town and there's a back road out there so I decided I would see where it led.  I found out that it is half a mile from the gym to the skating rink and from the skating rink to the old folks' home is another half mile.  Another half mile then I turned around and came back to give me a full three miles today.

This was really rough because even though it was evening it was still really hot.  On top of that this road is super hilly and a couple of the hills are rather steep.  I ended up having to walk for quite a bit as I was worn out; I didn't have anywhere to stop for water and I wasn't carrying any.  I was super thirsty and super tired.  I felt like one of those cartoons where they crawl across the desert going "Water......water.......water....."  It wasn't a pretty sight, that's for sure!

There's not a whole lot I can say about this run.  It was really hard and I had to stop and walk.  I liked the route but at the same time I didn't like it because there were no sidewalks so I had to run on the road.  I didn't think that the road would be busy that time of night but it was and every time a car came I would have to get off the road and run in the grass.  That was a little difficult because the ground is super bumpy with dirt clots and hidden holes, etc.  I kept twisting my foot or stumbling on stuff.  So I'd run in the grass until the cars passed then I'd go back to the road and run a pace.  Then another car would come and I'd have to get back in the grass again.  Blah, blah, blah.....didn't like that.  I like the way the road feels under my feet but I guess I prefer running on a sidewalk because I don't have to keep getting in the grass.

I was exhausted when I was done but I did do a full three miles and even though I had to walk it took me just a minute or two longer than my standard three mile time.  This is because when I started off I started off with a faster pace.  I'm pretty sure that's what contributed to my running out of energy too quickly too.

All in all a good run.  I ran 3.03 miles.  It took me 37 minutes and my average pace was 12:10.  That looks a lot better than it felt!

On to the next run!

Happy Running!

KEA