To Yale...and Back

I was up early Saturday morning (6:00) with plans to run with the Runner's World group for my first time in weeks. Got dressed, got my Garmin and MP3 player ready to go, got a snack, checked the weather, etc. Before I knew it, time was slipping away from me. No problem, I thought. If I head straight out there right now, I should make it before they actually depart. So I jumped in the car, headed up 169, across on 51 expecting to cross over on 44 and head south to Helmerich Park to make it there in just the nick of time.

I'm not sure what happened with me next. Still half asleep? Distracted thinking about the 3-day weekend? Wondering which song would come up next on the radio? I don't know, but by the time the brain fog I was in passed, I was still on 51, almost to Harvard. Wow. I was in disbelief that I had missed the 44 interchange. My disbelief quickly turned into frustration when I looked at my clock and realized that there was no way I could catch the group before they left the park at this point (6:58). I exited and turned around and dejectedly headed back to my new/old track on the Creek Turnpike trail. (I was really mad at myself when I later learned that I had missed out on some good trail running on Turkey Mountain Saturday morning!)

Back on the Creek Turnpike trail, I started heading west. Awesome song on my MP3 player--inspiration to start off fast--and there goes a good bit of my strength right off the bat. (Flashbacks of OKC. Ugh.) I scolded myself for going out too fast, the punishment being that I would have to run the full 8 miles I had originally planned to run despite the fact that I knew I would be getting tired.

I crossed Memorial just fine. It was later in the day than I was used to running, and it was already pretty hot and humid (where was that promised rain??), so I stopped at Sheridan for a drink and then continued on. Past Sheridan, I circled around and down the trail, under the highway (Thank you Cheryl). Then I saw it: the "challenging" hill I had heard of between Sheridan and Yale. Wow. I puffed my way to the top, turned around at Yale, and headed back down the same hill. Another drink at Sheridan, across Memorial, over the steep side of the Memorial hill, and across Mingo again back to my car. It was a challenging run but a good one despite an overly lofty start.

Monday's run ended up being cut short. I headed east on the trail this time, occasionally checking my Garmin for my mileage. One mile...then, 1.64 miles. Knowing that I still had a little way to go before the turnaround, I stopped looking at my Garmin. Some time later, knowing I had be getting close to being 3 miles out, I checked it again. The distance quadrant read 1.64 miles. (What??) I still don't know what happened, but for whatever reason, it had stopped at 1.64. I'm not familiar enough with that trail yet to know landmarks, so, wanting to get back home to be with my family on this holiday Monday, I decided to just turn back. I started my Garmin again and did the math when I got back to my car. It ended up being closer to 4.5 miles than 6, but I felt like the run was a good quality run, so I wasn't too bothered by its diminutive distance.

5-25-09
Distance: 4.50

5-23-09
Distance: 8.54
Time: 1:12:24
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:28