Have you ever gotten lost while running?
Have you ever gotten lost while you were out on a run? It is by no means a bad thing, and can be a great way to learn a new area. If you are going to get lost, then I recommend doing it on your long run day…
This morning, not very many people showed up to run. It was 6°F and windy, so I suppose that I can understand that. Of course, when not many people show up because it is cold, it tends to be the people that are in better shape and are more serious that do arrive. As such, I fell behind around four or four and a half miles into the run. Five miles into the run, the road branched, and I had no idea where I was to begin with. I went the wrong way.
I never did catch up with anybody, and they were all gone by the time I got back. There was a gentleman out in his driveway that pointed out to me when asked that I was going the wrong way. He told me to turn around and take a nearby dirt road, which would let me back onto the road I was looking for a bit less than a mile further east than where I was supposed to be let out onto it. Now I know a longer loop. After looking at the map, there is another easy loop if I kept going the wrong way and am willing to make a couple of extra turns. Maybe I will try that route next time I am out that way.
Getting a lost is a great way to learn new routes and to get to know the roads in an area you are not completely familiar with. When we run in that town, now, I can run in a few different directions for a few different distances in each now without having to worry about where to go or how long it will take me. You should make an effort to get lost on occasion too.
- “Rob” got lost at the New York City Marathon
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- This Week Last Year: Dogs, Boston and Being Lost
- Portland Trails 10k (2005)
January 21st, 2007 at 8:26 pm
If I ever get to run outside my neighborhood, I suppose I might get lost! LOL. I do need to get out a bit. Running new routes, and even getting lost, adds some spice to the running life!
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:27 am
[...] I read this post over at Run to Win. Blaine talks about getting lost on a run. It reminded me of my first hour and a half run. It did not matter the distance, what was important was the time. I did not have a good way to measure distance at the time. [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:28 am
Yes, I have gotten lost on a run. It was during my first half marathon training. At the time I did not have a good way to measure distances, so I ran for time. I was out for an hour and a half run when I lost myself. By the time I found me I was at the hour mark of the run. I made it home just over the 1:35 mark.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Way to take lemons (getting lost) and make lemonade by enjoying the new territory and discovering a new running route in the process. I have learned so much about my town since I took up running:-)
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:39 pm
I would not consider getting lost a lemon. Getting lost on a run is how I learned my way around Rochester, Orlando, and Portland. Now I know Yarmouth a little better.
There was one time that I got lost that was not so great, but I actually knew the roads that I was on the whole time. That is a story for next weekend, though.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 pm
I got lost in the rain once, while running with a friend of mine. We intended on a long run, but it turned into near hypothermia after we spent an hour and a half running in the 50 degree rain. It actually got a little scary, as we were running in the woods at a park with no real landmarks; we were pretty happy to see the car at the end of the path when we finally made it there. I think we spent at least another 30 minutes sitting in the car with the heat on full blast before I could properly operate the clutch and drive. Nice little adventure.
January 24th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
The last time I got lost on a run I became intimately aquainted with Martin Luther King Blvd. and Ocean Ave. in Jersey City. Let’s just say that the old Chris Rock stand-up routine was accurate in this instance.
It took a while, but I was able to orient myself after finding a location where the buildings in lower Manhattan and downtown Jersey City were visible.
That helped me learn a valuable lesson about running in the area: Don’t use the Statue of Liberty as a landmark to run towards
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:18 pm
[...] to, and somebody had to look for you? Or have you never gotten lost on a run? I don’t mind getting lost now and again, and have gotten lost on runs at least a dozen and a half times, but that one run was a bit over [...]
January 19th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
[...] (usually) it is not such a bad thing to get lost on a run; it can help you learn new [...]