4.50 miles in 39:42

connect.garmin.com/activity/167833108

the best laid plans of mouse and mike often go awry. it's true. i set my alarm for 4:40 before going to bed last night. i had big plans. i was going to run 15 miles before 7:30. i'd never done 15 miles at once and i wanted to see how my body would hold up over that distance.

when the alarm went off, i got up, hurried to get ready to run and hit the streets just after 5:00. i felt great the first couple of miles. i was running along listening to petra's new album, "back to the rock," thinking how fun this was to try for 15 miles. i ran south toward lake road wanting to figure out where exactly the country club sits so monday's trek there for a banquet would be such a mystery.

i found it with only one little bit of misdirection. my apologies to the people with the really nicely paved driveway that i ran up and back on. i really thought it was a street. after i turned on the right street, the only one, i found the country club, ran through their parking lot and, shhhh, don't tell anyone, cut across the golf course.

i came out on what i thought was country club road and took it to the right which i thought was north. at the first intersection, i took a left, thinking i'd run a couple of miles out to the road that runs south to the lake and take it. i was pleasantly surprised that the road was paved. i had thought all of the roads were gravel running east and west.

as i ran along, i spotted a flashing yellow light ahead...and houses. "there's a housing development out here?" i thought. then i came upon some railroad tracks. this was really strange. "do the tracks that run through town turn south?" i thought. then my world spun around a bit and i realized that my jaunt across the golf course hadn't taken me to country club road at all. it had taken me back to lake road and the road i was now running on was country club. i was running north on it back into town!

i was beginning to feel a bit sickly at this point, but i really wanted to run 15 miles so i took a right on sixth street to run out by wal-mart. when i saw a side street take off north, i decided on a whim to follow it. i'd never gone that way before. at the dead end there was a rutted gravel drive. i took it. i kind of wish now that i hadn't. in the dark it wasn't hard to follow, but it was hard to see the potholes and sudden drops and when i rounded the back side of the pratt business center, i found my self shoe-deep in mud for several strides. not the most pleasant surprise! i don't think i'll go that way in the dark again.

by the time i came out in the parking lot by long john silvers, i knew there was no way 15 miles was happening. i was not feeling good at all! i turned west and headed up the highway toward home. thankfully, i made it back without anything nasty coming up or bursting out along the way.

i walked a bit of a cool down, then came in. i'll get my 15-miler in some other day.