Missed Turns

Sometimes a mistake can actually turn out for the best. 

On Saturday morning, I met the Charm City Running group for the first run I've done in awhile.  I was excited but very nervous about how much my knee would allow me to do.

Most of the members from the last training session were running the Celtic 5 mile race so I wasn't sure who would be there...turned out to be Glenda, Clarese and Denise along with a LOT of new faces.  I led the stretching and then we divided up into groups.  I went with the group that was going to run the shortest distance, which was 3.5 miles.

It was a typical run for me.  I chatted with the people in my group.  As we settled into a pace, another woman and I ended up pretty much running alone.  I really enjoyed our conversation and wasn't paying much attention to my route sheet.  We missed our turnaround spot, which I didn't realize until my watch alarm indicated that we'd gone 2 miles and we hadn't turned around yet.

So we turned around and headed back to the store.  By the end of the run, we had gone 4.5 miles.  That was a pleasant surprise because it felt good...it felt easy.  My knee was overall pretty good.  I had to walk up 2 hills because of my knee but was able to run comfortably as soon as we got to the top.

Without missing that turn, I would have been satisfied with running 3.5 miles.  But since we ran an extra mile, I was able to prove to myself that I am not as out of shape as I thought!