Venturing Out

When I went to bed last night, I had pretty much decided to play it safe/comfortable and hit the hotel gym instead of going for a run outside in a strange city. I was up until 11:30, though, and hit “snooze” until almost 6:00 am this morning.  When I got to the gym @ 6:15 (teeth brushed, gym clothes on) all of the treadmills were full, and from the look of the “elapsed time” readings, most people had just started. I debated for a few minutes and decided to handle my urgent work emails and then go out for a run. I went to Starbucks for some coffee (Anniversary Blend) and fuel (oatmeal), and then went back up to my hotel room.

I managed to get my urgent work done by 7:30, and was out on the sidewalk by 7:40. I decided to follow the route suggested by the hotel–about 5.5 miles, with 2 miles downhill to a park, 1+ miles around the park and, yup, 2 miles back up hill to the hotel. 

I used the GPS App on my iPhone and noticed that I was at the park in just under 20 minutes. I got a bit “lost” going around the park because there were so many paths to choose from (I realized by the end of my park “loop” that there was a 1 mile loop path around some playing fields in the center of the park that the hotel map suggested), but I made it around and back out in about 15 minutes.

That’s the last time point I can report because the next time I looked at the GPS, it was at 0:00 with no recorded “tracks.” Grrr! What is it with me and technology these days?

I finished my run, keeping a steady pace up the hill, and ended up with a total time of about 60 min, judging from my 7:40 start time.

It was a decent route–not too dicey–but not very scenic. The park was nice, but the rest of the route was by office buildings or parking lots. The weather was great, though, and it was so nice to get some fresh are after 1.5 days of conference meeting rooms.

It’s really only this year that I’ve even considered going for an outdoor run when I’m staying at a hotel. It was Chicago that got me started–I had such a glorious 8 mile run by the lake in May. I’m not totally comfortable with it though, and will choose my towns–and my routes–carefully.