Day 6, Week 6: I had a running adventure today, and by "adventure" I mean I got lost.

Yesterday I told you about how I am currently traveling for work and my adventure trying to find a flashlight for my early morning tempo run (3 miles at hyperspeed + 2 mile warm up) this morning.  Well, prepare yourself for more stories of brave adventure, my friends, because the run this morning was all sorts of crazy adventure.  Let me break down this adventure for you:

1) Set alarm for 4:30 AM for a 5:30 run leave time but get up at 5:25 AM.

I blame this on the bed.  And the fact that I was tired.  I rolled out of bed, wolfed down a snack, got my running duds on, and made it to the street by 5:39 AM.  I know that because that's what time my watch said that I started the run, in case you were doubting my powers of precision.

2) Start running down the street, trying to head for the lakefront path and realize you have no need for a flashlight whatsoever.

I don't know if you were aware of this, but country roads aren't lit by street lamps.  Turns out downtown Milwaukee has those newfangled light things, so I didn't need the flashlight.  All my ghost mall adventuring yesterday was, alas, for nothing.

3) Be a total running tourist and take lots of touristy pictures, only they're all dark because, you know, 5:39 AM.

The moment I realized a flashlight was not needed.

These kind of freaked me out.

Yay Lake Michigan!

 

This should be the official artistic representation for
all marathons.

3) Have a pretty good run except for wind...

I did not check the wind direction before I headed out this morning, so I ended up doing the last 2-ish miles of the tempo part of the run right into the freaking wind.  I am a moron.  I also ended up wheezing past a lot of other early morning exercisers on the lakefront path, all of them looking at me as if they might dial 911 for me at any moment.

4) ...and getting lost on the way back to the hotel.

I was completely in my "I just finished a tempo run and I'll just follow the path back to the hotel and not pay attention to my surroundings at all" mode and when I finally looked around I realized I was by this Abraham Lincoln statue that I definitely did NOT pass on the way out.

So instead of just Google Mapping my position and finding a route home, I just kept on running until I recognized a cross-street and then finally made it back to the hotel.  The result?  An additional 1.5 miles this morning.

5) Congratulate yourself for making it back to the hotel with some Starbucks.

You gotta celebrate those small running wins, my friends.

It's too bad I dripped sweat all over their floor.  They served my sweaty self quite begrudgingly.  I didn't realize how sweaty I was until I got back to the room.

Nothing says "I kicked this run's sweet patootie" more than sweat pits on your running capris.  And these splits I got in miles 3-5.

Post is done and learning time has begun:

• Traveling ain't gonna keep me from my scheduled run.  Or my 4:05 marathon goal time.
• Milwaukee has a lot of statues.  This caused me some grief because my motto is usually "SELFIES WITH ALL THE STATUES" but there were just too many of them and I had to get back for the rest of my conference.  Bummer.
• I know country roads can't all have street lamps, but what about those little solar light things you can stick in the ground?  I would like to at least see the skunk coming at me before it sprays me.
• Still running those tempo miles too fast.  My knees and shins are voicing their objections at this very moment.
• If you get lost running in Milwaukee, Abe Lincoln is absolutely no help at all.  FYI.

Tomorrow's workout:  Weights or biking..but I think we all know by now it's probably going to be weights.  But I'm keeping that biking dream alive!