Taking the Scenic Route

Distance: 11 miles
Time: 1:58:02
Pace: 11:08 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Took a wrong turn, ran a longer route than expected, instead of finishing the run at my front door, had to walk an extra mile in the freezing cold
Most Inspiring Moment: The cheerful bearded runner who high-fived every person he passed (including me!)

Eleven! Miles! Sunday's run brought us into "I have never gone this far before" territory, which makes the idea of lacing up my sneakers and running off for two hours a little daunting. I spent most of Saturday night trying to find a good GPS tracking app that would send my location to Dave in the event I got lost and ended up running six miles in the wrong direction (highly possible).

In the end, though, it wasn't too bad! Once I got over the terrifying idea that I would be exercising for multiple hours, just getting out there and going was pretty easy. I had sunshine and several hours of comedy specials on Spotify, and I was doin' fine.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from my run, because I didn't want to mess with the fragile state of my phone in case I needed it. Which was a good thing, because when I did try to check my time at the very end of my run, it was like THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE [dies].

So you'll have to take my word for it that it was pretty! I ran along the river to Harvard, then I turned up, ran to my old dorms near Porter Square, and then back down Broadway, over the Longfellow Bridge, and home again. It went great! I finally figured out how to get voice prompts and auto pauses from my running app, so every time I slowed down at a stoplight, a pleasant, robotic female voice would say "ACTIVITY PAUSED." It was great! But a little depressing when she'd say it and I was like, "No, I'm not stopping. This is how fast I run." :(

But! I passed TWO runners! That brings the total count of runners passed up to FOUR. There are at least FOUR other runners in Boston slower than me, which, hey, feels pretty good.

When I got home, I showered (amazing), ate (amazing), and took a two-hour nap (amazing amazing). One thing I've learned about running crazy miles: laziness never felt so good.