It was one of those days where you end up wanting to run just a bit further… and a bit further. And then suddenly you have no idea where you are and only a very general sketch of the map in your head. You know you can get back to the start, but you're not sure if it's going to be three more miles or ten…
It's Monday, a vacation day, and Kris and the kids let me sleep late. Coffee and a good breakfast. "How far are you going," Kris asks. "Long run?" (I'd skipped Sunday since we were visiting down at Kris' mom's house with Kris' sister and her family back from Ohio.) "I don't know exactly. But not that, no. At least six. Maybe a few more. Depends on how I feel."
I ran south along the river, along a path I'd never taken before. Then east into the city and finally north again to hook up with some of my standard route. After crossing the Amoskeag Bridge, where I usually turn south again and head for home, I figured I'd keep going west a bit farther and loop wider around. After all, I was feeling good, easy (exploring always seems to make me want to run just a little further), and there'd have to be a cut over at some point. There wasn't. At one point I tried for one but just ending up running a half mile down a very steep hill and finding a loop road at the bottom that led me straight back up said steep again on the other side.
Big hills are a pretty standard feature on Goffstown back roads, it turns out.
About an hour and a half into the run, with clearly a ways left to go, I began to seriously worry that I was going to be seriously worrying Kris by the time I got back. After all, I hadn't said exactly how far I was going, but my implication had been that I was keeping it short-ish. No phone. No payphone. And no water or food, which I would usually either carry or loop back to the house for on any run longer than 12 miles. Just more back roads. Kris would have expected an hour and a half. Two hours? Maybe… but longer than that… not typical without the food and water setup.
Finally, at two hours I find my way back onto a familiar stretch of state road. I'm three miles from the house. I crank them out and feel pretty good, especially since I had no mid-run snack or water. Thus proving my pizza and cocktails hypothesis (I have never lost my steam on a long run when I ate just a bit too much pizza and drank just enough cocktails the night before.)
The upside? Being just lost enough — again. And having a sense that I could keep going long enough to get home, however long that was. And finding out the long runs are getting easier each time. I may almost be ready to hit my goal time at Portland this October. The downside? Worrying Kris – who was ready to get into the van and come looking for by the time I got back.
NEW PRODUCT IDEA
Time to start carrying a phone with me? Probably not … but Kris suggests a watch that not only has built in GPS, maps and pace and distance calculation – but also a text messenger: "k running late, fine – but where does back goffstown rd come out? love, e" Are you listening, Garmin?
