OK, Not So Bad

So I just checked out on mapmyrun.com where I went wrong last night with my directions. It looks like I ran 6.37 miles instead of the 6.7 I was supposed to. That is not so bad. Sometimes when I get lost I knock about 1-2 miles off of my run. So now I don't feel tooooo bad :)

Oops! I Did It Again!

Sorry. Lame title I know. And I am NOT a Britney fan, just in case you were wondering.

Last night we had options for our run...4.5 miles, 5.6 miles or 6.7 miles. Coach Joe F very diligently passed out the routes before we left as he always does. But let me tell you...I am the WORST with directions. I don't care if you give me turn by turn directions or a map. For some reason my brain doesn't work that way.

Which is why I ended up doing who knows how many miles instead of the 6.7 I planned on. Whoops. I noticed everyone running towards me on our route last night instead of away from me. I turned around and the people I was running with were gone. Apparantly I was running on Victoria AVENUE instead of turning on Victoria LANE like I was supposed to. So I went as far as it looked like people were running and then turned around and ran back. In the meantime I passed Coach Joe F who looked at me puzzled and I yelled "I know! I messed up!" When I did turn around I figured I should explain to one of our mentors who was running. Except I said "I'm stupid. I can't read directions." To which he replied "Oh, OK. This is the 6.7 option." Then I started to think, 'oh great. He thinks I literally CAN"T READ directions.'He even waited for me at the top of the hill to point out that I had to turn right. I felt stupid now for two reasons.

Oh well, I think I ran the whole thing at a 10 minute mile pace...which a little slower than what I was supposed to do (10% faster than your race pace). I just have to get used to this heat!!!

Londoners are the Nicest People

Why? Because I tend to get incredibly lost here.It actually took me 4x to figure out how to get from home to work and vice versa before I finally got it right.

So last night on my run I decided to head into Islington, which is a burrough right next to mine. I headed left on the main road and hit it in no time. I made a little circle around the block and headed back the way I came. I suddenly noticed a park and thought, 'oh that's nice...I don't remember seeing that on the way up'. Not a big deal, I mean it was on the other side of the street. Then, I hit residential area. Hmmm? I turned right and headed up to another main thoroughway. LOST.

I ran (well, I was walking at this point) into a man who says "you're not going to WALK the marathon, are you?" I talked to him for a bit and it turned out his co-worker was training for the marathon that is this weekend. He told me how to get back to Camden, and I figured I knew how to get back from there (I had been there the other day) .I started running again and got to Camden. Nothing looked familiar. I was totally lost. I decided to take the tube back to Kings Cross station...the station by my flat.

Good idea, but there was a fire in an apartment building on Camden Road and the street (and therefore tube station) was closed.

To make a long long story short, I asked a million people for directions and all were very very helpful and nice. I am just an idiot. I get confused here because the street names change like every 2 blocks and there are so many little arteries of streets, it's not set up in a grid. Like, right by my work there is Clerkenwell Green, intersected by Clerkenwell Court AND Clerkenwell Road. Confusing!

I did end up only running the 6 miles I intended, so that was good. I have to get myself a pocket map!