Happiness in the park

For some reason I can’t stop thinking about my run last night. It was GREAT!!! I was even talking to myself in the mirror about it last night as I prepared for bed. And yes, I am a freak…I talk to myself a LOT!!! In the car…falling asleep….putting on makeup in the mirror…etc. OG even catches me a lot in the car and says “Mom, are you talking to yourself again?” And the answer is always YES! lol
So last night I kept saying to myself’ wow, what an awesome run”…”that run was so great”…”I can’t believe how easy it was”…etc etc.
Why was it so great? Not sure…but here are the details for those who are bored and want to waste time: I ran on Saturday and knew I needed to run last night (Monday) or today, to 1) not wait too long in between runs and 2) to have a day off before my Thurs running class. I was getting antsy to run (who would have think it 3 mths ago?) but kept debating it. I got home and hubbie decided to go for a bike ride. I ate dinner w/ OG and decided that if he was doing something then *I* needed to do something and I couldn’t wait till Tuesday. So when he returned, and I gave my food some time to settle, I was out the door.

I am getting a little bored with running my neighborhood and the surrounding ones, so I decided to go to Battleground Park. It was right 8 at this time…and due to get dark soon, so I needed to get a move on. I arrive at the park about 8:05…but there were still TONS of people there. As I approached the entrance to the park, I saw the park ranger dudes on their little John Deere golf cart thingie. They always hang out at the park exit about this time of night to prepare to drive through to push the lollygaggers through the park…make sure no cars are in there after dark etc. I asked them “how long till dark?” They advised me I had about 30 mins. HMMM….I needed longer than that but figured I could make do. So off I went at 8:08.

The run was easy at first….and stayed pretty easy. I know that the whole loop is about 1.9 miles. So I knew I needed to do some extra “stuff” to get in 3 miles. So off I went on the first park of the loop. Starting out going over the gravel path (.2 miles…this is good reference for later) and turning left into the park at the flattop…as I got about half way through the park, I took a right into the country park and went down a .2+ mile path. So down that path and back up it clocked in an extra .4+ that is not included in the 1.9 of the loop. At the end of the detour path, I took a right and I was back on the road of the park again….and it was EASY. Weird. I found myself standing up straighter as I ran…and at that moment I realized I had sort of been running slouched over the past months. So I made an effort to stand tall as I ran. And it made it easier. ALSO, the fact that the sun was going down and it was cooler (83 degrees vs 93 earlier that day) helped too. I like running at this time of day. There were still lots of people in the park, but not as many as would have been there an hour before. I made sure to stay alert to creepy people…but there were really none. I passed a lot of females that were walking alone or w/ dogs…and I never went more than a minute or 2 without seeing someone in this huge park, so that made me feel good.

So I got to the end of the “loop”. At this point with the 1.9+ of the loop and the extra .4+ I added in I was at about 2.4. So I decided to run the gravel again up and back…this added in another .4. At this point I still had 1) time left and 2) needed more mileage. I had JUST seen he little guys in their John Deere on the gravel path and I advised them I was headed out. They were stopping people (including a weird man with a dog who was sort of half in half out of the woods on the gravel path…then I realized his dog was tangled and he was harmless) telling them the park was closing and it was time to leave. So as I entered where the parking lot begins, I decided to hang a right back into the park…just run down a few more minutes and back up…so I did that…then ran out to the parking lot and ran to the end of the lot an a little farther north…then back into the parking lot and to my car. I am not sure of the distance on the last parts after I left the gravel…but I DO know that I ran about 36 minutes. So that means I went at least 3.1 miles or a hair more.
Sooo….success. And EASY success. I would have and could have kept going had it not been getting dark. BUMMER. But, I enjoyed running in the park as the day wound down…it was calm, cool and wonderful. I cooled down with a mini walk and stretched in the parking lot on the fence. My legs were sore but I felt great. I was sweating a lot but it was all good. Can’t wait for the next time!