Running with a purpose

Yesterday was a long run day for me, which of course meant that we were going to have 20+mph winds out of the North and that it would be freezing cold. There really isn't a good place near my house to run that's sheltered from the north wind, so my choices seemed to be to gut it out in the wind, face an unspeakable 8 miles on the dreadmill, or come up with something different. I opted for something different, and decided to run my 8 miles south to my friend Beka's house and hitch a ride home. Normally I do my long runs at a park here in town that has a 4 mile outer loop and some shorter inner loops, or I run an out-and-back from my house, but basically I always start and end up in the same place and never get too far away from home or my car. Running from point A to point B was going to be a new experience for me, and I wasn't entirely sure that I would like it. For one thing, I wouldn't be able to break up my run into shorter mental segments like I could when I ran in the park in 4 mile loops. For another thing, I wouldn't have the comfort zone of never being too far away from my house or my car in the event something went wrong. But keeping that in mind, I took my cell phone and some cash knowing that I'd pass a few gas stations on the way, and headed out the door. Much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed my run. The time and miles actually seemed to go by more quickly because I had a purpose and was actually going somewhere, rather than just running in circles. And it was fun getting to run through different parts of town and see some new scenery. It also felt like more of an accomplishment to finish my run. Running two loops of the park doesn't seem quite that amazing, but when I think that I ran all the way from my house to my friend's house I feel like I really did something yesterday. Although I have to admit, when I ran past one of my favorite gelato spots, I was REALLY tempted to stop in and have a small gelato before finishing my run. So my little nugget of wisdom for the day is that sometimes it's good to really shake up your running routine and try something completely different, get a little bit out of your comfort zone. You just might surprise yourself. Just don't run past any gelato places.