Transformation...

It is time to transfer officially into full time run training this season.  As my buddy Brian said, it's marathon time baby!  A lot of the training that we put ourselves through can be just as mentally tasking as physically, and a good change of pace is just plain fun. 

Isn't that why I'm out here in the first place?

New Route - I ran a completely different way this past Saturday.

  Differently than I have ever done before on a long run and it was mesmerizing.  I'm not talking about a different road or neighborhood, or even a particularly cool place to run (pretty scenery, etc.).  The run route was very different mentally, more than anything, which is probably why it was very interesting. 

To preface, I had the pleasure of doing some long runs in San Rafeal, CA (Marin Co.) last month while visiting my brother-in-law in some of the most beautiful state parks of our country.  Those amazing trails were awesome, please don't miss that.  I love running in beautiful places because it is one of the few times I can relax.  The biggest note of of all of those runs and many long runs

 before it; point A was the same as point B. 

I wanted to make my long run more like an adventure.  The wonderful thing about biking for long rides with the team is the ability to "see more" and explore new roads and routes simply because you can roll a lot faster than run.  Once I got it in my head that I wanted an adventure, it was all I could think about and then some.  

Ok, here was the route. Very simple. Plain Jane.

Point A -- Starting Point - 306 Mulberry Drive, Fate, Texas.  

Point B -- Destination - 428 D Yacht Club Drive, Rockwall, Texas. 

Yup, pretty simple... start at my house and try to make it safely to my parent's house in Chandlers Landing.  After playing with www.mapmyride.com for a bit, I was able to calculate the distance using some neighborhoods to stay off of major roads as much as possible.  The total distance: 11.8 miles. 

After a quick kiss goodbye to my sleeping wife, I was off!  Headed down the path of the relatively unknown... the beauty of this route was the mental inability to turn around or stop short.  If I didn't make it, I was going to walk.  I had my cell phone with me in my water belt.  If I needed to call for help, I could... which is a huge piece of mind. 

I started off slow with the intent of enjoying the run.  The goal was 10 minute mile pace to arrive just under 2 hours at the condo in Chandlers.  One aspect that I was NOT counting on was the big Southery breeze that morning.  "that's ok, it's only mental" (just like doing this 'not so revolutionary' run route).  

I stayed very safe and out of harms way the entire run, and every car that I saw (especially on the service road) gave me a full lane of space....and the weirdest looks. "what is this guy doing?" I imagined them saying.  When I was on the south service road between fate and FM 549, I saw 2 bicyclists going the other direction, and they DEFINITELY gave me weird looks.  I twisted my way through the first neighborhood I could find off of HWY 276 with the intent of finding 205 safely.  I only had to ask for directions once from a nice group of neighbors enjoying the saturday morning of gardening.   It is easy to get lost in those new neighborhoods.  When I asked them, "how do I get to 205 from here?" they gave me a seriously weird look.  One of them said, "uh, that's far away"....ha. 

Once I made it to Ralph M. Hall Parkway, I was home free... basically.  Nothing but nice sidewalks and plenty of crosswalks for the weekend stroller.  I called my mom to see if she would be home when I got there.  Lucky for me she was just getting ready to leave for a Dallas art show, and volunteered to hang out until I got there.  She was incredibly nice to have a HUGE pitcher of Gatorade with a glass of ice ready for me to swallow.  

I had made it, safely... what an adventure! I called my wife to let her know that I was safe.  My time was 1:52 for 11.8 miles.  I was happy.  I think that I will do that sort of run again.  It was very different from driving to White Rock Lake to do "the loop".  That made the run go by so much faster.