What a workout!

Lately I've been trying to amp up my running. For one: I'm training for the Lake Tahoe Relay next month. Two: I want to run a marathon by the end of the year. Three: I just feel out of shape and want to work on that. I've been running, but I can only push myself so much on my own. I've found that some of the sports stores around here offer free group runs in the evenings, so I decided to try one out last night. Well, I went to this particular one once before back in the fall, but I haven't gone since.

I just wanted to share the little story of last night because, looking back on it now, it's kind of a good one!

So I started out running with the group kind of towards the front (there were a few guys who were way ahead of me and I didn't even attempt to keep up). We ended up running in Shell Ridge rec area, which is up on the grassy hills with oak trees. It was a beautiful place and I was running well, keeping up with these two men. People started dropping off and turning back. I told myself I would run 30 minutes before turning around. I had a volleyball game at 8, so I couldn't run any longer than that. Well, the men came to the turnaround point right about that time, so I turned with them. They chatted with me a little bit, then slowly got ahead of me. I could still see one guy up ahead, so I just followed where he was going. Suddenly I didn't recognize the trail anymore. 'Am I going the right way?' I thought. The guy ahead slowed to a walk and I was able to catch up with him. "Are you part of the group run?" I asked. "No. Are you?" he responded. Oh no, I was following the wrong person! He helped me figure out which way I wanted to go to get out of there and so I took off, hoping to catch up with the group.

I got off of the trail and back to the streets, but it didn't seem like the same streets we came in on. I kept following the street I was on and looked up at the sign to see what street it was. 'Marshall Dr' haha, how funny is that? This was not the right street, but I kept following it hoping it would lead me to a familiar street. Well, it just seemed to keep winding around. It was a really pretty street with adorable houses and lots of shading trees but if I didn't find my way back soon, I wasn't going to make my game. 'At least I know I'm going the right direction,' I thought, because I was running toward the sun. 'Wait a second...the sun sets in the west and I'm pretty sure the store is north of here, so I'm not going the right direction!'

It seemed like a friendly enough neighborhood, so I decided to wave down the next car and ask for directions. Along came a car, and I stopped and waved, but apparently I'm not good at waving down cars because the lady just waved back and kept driving. Then I saw a couple doing some gardening in their front yard so I asked them for help. They were very sweet and seemed so excited just when I said hi. They eagerly directed me out to the main road, but I was a lot further down from the store that where I left from (and also downhill), but I had to hurry to get to my game. So I pushed up the hill, keeping up my rushed pace that I had been running for the last 10 minutes or so.

I finally made it back to my car at 7:50, so I had to immediately drive to my volleyball game. Good thing I brought my knee pads and volleyball shoes with me. I ran into the gym where my team was already warming up. Luckily they hadn't started on time. They were all relieved to see me since; they were starting to get worried. It'd be a great ending to my story if I said that we won.......but we didn't. :( My team hasn't been doing so well this season. Oh well, they're fun to play with and I definitely had a good workout last night. I ran for over an hour (and fast too, probably about 7 or 8 miles) and then I played volleyball for 45 minutes. If only I could keep this up every night, I'd be in great shape!