Running in OK

Oh summer vacation is such a whirlwind of fun and exhaustion. Capped off by an insanely long drive that is enough to make us question our sanity (and resolve to never again do it in one stretch. We have committed to always stop at a hotel. Remind me that next year.)

While trying to think of how to capture the essense of our trip to visit family in one blog post, I realized that it is impossible. So I will tell you a story that I find both hilarious and falls into the it can only happen to me category.

I went to Oklahoma with a strong desire to keep up my running routine (I only partially did, but I ran twice while I was there.) When my brother wanted to run with me one morning I was excited to go. Unfortunately he had to go around 5 AM because he was getting his wisdom teeth out later that day. So at 5:15 we hit the trail at Mitch Park in Edmond, OK. It all started out rather nicely. I forgot my Ipod which was fine, as I had my little brother to talk to, but I wanted it to measure distance (have I mentioned my awesome pedometer that plugs into my Ipod? It's a must have if you are a runner. I love it!) but it wasn't that big of a deal. I had a few obstacles to overcome as I had been up at my parents house until almost one, my allergies went bonkers pretty much the minute I crossed the OK state line, and then the biggest obstacle of all... hills. Florida is flat, at least the part I live and run in so hills were something I was definitely not accustomed to. Once I got past the huffing puffing part, partly due to allergies and partly due to hills, but mostly due to the fact that I always start out my run and take a few minutes to get my breathing under control, things went nicely.

Then we hit THE hill. It was a killer for this flat surface running girl, and I hate to admit it but I failed. I ended up walking most of that hill. Because it was a monster.

The hills weren't the real notable part of this early morning run though. I'm not sure how we did it. It could be because we were talking,it could be from lack of sleep, but somehow we lost the trail. At some point the trail kind of went into a neighborhood, and in theory it picked back up in the neighborhood shortly after. Unfortunately, we never found the point at which it went back into the park. (I'm speaking entirely theoretically here, as I am not familiar with the trail at all, seeing as how I no longer live in the state of Oklahoma.) So we trudged through the neighborhood and found a way out of it, and if you are familiar with the area found ourselves at Coffee Creek smack between Kelly and Santa Fe. If you aren't familiar with the area, we were about a mile and a half away from the park.

All told, we estimate we ran about 3 miles, then walked that mile and a half back to the car. I only wish I had my pedometer so I could know for sure. It was an adventure and as I told my brother when he apologized for the fifth time about getting us lost, it makes for a good story to tell.