Thank God For My Garmin!

Greetings Fellow Runners

Well last night I went out for my final long run before my half marathon. I ended up running 11.26 miles in 1:59:53 (10:38 pace/mile). I went at not the greatest speed, but there is some reason for this.

I went out for my normal long run, while Crystal took the kids to the park by our house. Everything was going good on the run, and I felt as though I was off to an excellent start. A little over 3 miles in I was approaching the park that the family was at, and what do ya know, I see my car pulling out of the park and on their way home (even though she didn't see me coming in the opposite direction).

I then went on with my run up to the animal shelter and circle around there and started to head home. At this point it was starting to get dark and this is where I realized that I had forgotten my running light. A little bit more into my run, I decided to change things up a little bit and turn onto a road that I do not normally run on. As it turns out, this may normally not be a bad idea, but it is when it is pitch black out and I forgot my light. I thought I was doing good going around this little circle and would then turn onto the road that brought me right back to my normal path. As it turns out, I AM BLIND! LOL Somehow I passed by the turn that I wanted to make, ran the entire circle AND some and that is when I thought I was at the right spot in the circle to turn (actually I was just 1 road from where I got onto it at) This road led me a little off coarse (which I was not aware of at the time). A little bit on this road and I knew there was a problem as I am not normally on this road for this long. I now was lost, in the dark on foot and had already completed a good 8 miles of running. After running slowly from road to road trying to read the road signs in the dark (which does do much good when every single road was named Juniper Rd, Juniper Dr, Juniper Loop, etc) not sure of which road I was to turn down, I knew this could end up bad. Then, it hit me my Garmin Forerunner 305 (recently purchased) has a map feature on it that shows where I have ran. I was able to use this feature to eventually lead me back to the normal path and give me a good sense of relief. Of course at this point I was already exhausted and still was about 2 miles or so away from my house (apparently being lost uses up a LOT more energy then a normal run)

I eventually made my way back home and completed the course. I do now have a nice blister on my right foot and just hope to death that it does not bother me in my half marathon and my pursuit of breaking 2 hours.

Moral of the story DO NOT forget your light when running in the dark (especially in the shores)

Final Run Stats

Distance - 11.26 miles
Time - 1:59:53
Avg Heart Rate - 157 BPM
Max Heart Rate - 174 BPM
Calories Burned - 1,246
Avg Pace Per Mile - 10:38
Temperature during run - 70.7 - 71.6
Elevation Gained - 2,142 Ft