A Change of Scenery

The view for most of my run

Today's run is a perfect example of why I can use that Nike+ Sportwatch!  On my way home from work today, I decided that I needed to change my running route.  The 4 mile route near the house that I had mapped out last week was definitely not thrilling me.  So, in the spirit of the football season, I called an audible.  I decided to run along the West Orange Trail here in O-town.  The trail itself was pretty great, but it was the lack of distance markers that was a little frustrating for me.  That's why the GPS on the Sportwatch could've really helped me so I would know just how far I had run.  If I had that watch, I could just keep running along the trail without thinking about it until I saw the 4 mile distance indicator pop up!  Oh well, I tried to estimate the distance as best I could.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Total Distance: 4 miles?? (I hope?)
Total Time: 50 minutes
Longest Run: 30 minutes and 40 seconds

Running the trail was definitely a change of pace.  For one thing, I definitely had more to look at than I usually do just running around the neighborhood.  I mean, it was a veritable animal kingdom: I saw roosters, yes ROOSTERS!!!  So random!  I also had the pleasure of running alongside a couple of ladies riding horses. (Not so random, there's a horse trail that runs alongside the running/biking trail in that area.)  There were some dogs that were running alongside their owners.  All in all, it was just nice to see something different!

Today's plan was to run 4 miles.  Well, okay, to run/walk 4 miles.  As the numbers above indicate, I ran for a little over 30 minutes.  That wasn't an easy run for me either.  I kept having to convince myself to keep going.  The music wasn't inspiring me, I ended up running uphill the entire first half of my run, it was just tough.  At the beginning of the run, I started running faster than usual.  I wanted to try and lengthen my stride, to condition myself to run at a faster pace.  However, after a very short distance, I ended up reverting back to my former "comfy" pace.  While I wasn't content with this, I thought about it and realized that I wouldn't be able to keep that faster pace up for an entire 30 minutes or so and what I really wanted was to run the entire time, so I slowed down.

See? These ladies know what I'm talking about with the double-hand wave!
(Or maybe they're just doing the wave...hmm...)

As I was running, I thought it was funny that I got a chance to practice my 'trail greeting' to others passing by.  It's funny because I'd switch it up.  At first I tried the 'what's up bro' head nod and then the reverent/knowing head nod but I wondered if that just made it look like I wasn't really looking at the others on the trail.  I then changed to the double-hand wave, smile and a quick 'hi'.  After doing that twice, I thought maybe that was too much, too cheesy?  Then, I started to think...maybe I'm just thinking too much about this whole waving thing!  So, I just let it go and did whatever seemed to strike me at the moment.

NEXT RUN: Run for a minimum of 35 minutes, if not more! (Incidentally, I feel like this is a lame goal, by the way)

NEXT RACE: November 13th, Florida Hospital Celebration Founders' Day 10K & 5K