I Probably Won't Try That Again...

On Saturday night, Daniel and I set out for a 14-mile run. For this distance, it's easier to run on an established trail and so we headed down to the Bosque, a 16-mile wooded bike trail that runs next to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. Although I ran 13.1 miles just a week earlier, it quickly became obvious that this run wouldn't go off without serious physical harm. I was dragging through the first three miles, my knee was killing me and my stomach was upset. Daniel was already out a good ways ahead of me and I decided to short the run and just turn around when I saw Daniel heading back my way. (It's an out and back course.) I was thinking that this would get me to about 12 miles. Around mile 5.5, the trail split. I took the route I assumed Daniel had taken, but I kept my eye out for him on the other trail just in case. Around mile 6, a pack of stray dogs became very interested in me and I decided it was probably time to turn around and head back to the car. I didn't know why I hadn't run into Daniel, but I figured he'd be along sometime soon. Around mile 7, I still hadn't seen Daniel and realized that I wasn't going to be able to run much on the route back. I did some quick math and realized that at my current pace, I would get back to the car around 9:20, about 2o minutes after it became completely dark. Now mind you, the Bosque isn't a lighted trail and by this time I was one of the few people left on the trail. I also figured that Daniel had to be ahead of me since there was no way he was going as slow as I was. I kept moving forward, but by 8:45, I was still over 2 miles from the car and it was getting really dark. Also around this time, I saw a coyote on the trail. I repeatedly called Daniel's cell, but he leaves that in the car. Naturally, I also called my mom who lives roughly 200 miles away since clearly she could help. She assured me that coyotes weren't interested in me, but also urged me to consider calling 911 if I didn't hear from Daniel soon. At 9:00, it was pitch dark with no moonlight at all. I saw the lights of a major street up ahead and decided that I would just wait at this street and hope that Daniel called soon. This would put me about a mile from the finish line, but there was no way I was walking a full mile in the dark on this creepy trail. Thankfully at 9:05, Daniel finished up his run and got my messages. Within another ten minutes, he picked me up from my spot on the Paseo bridge. That run was much more exciting than was necessary and for someone purportedly good at math, I didn't quite calculate the finish time correctly. I don't think I will start out a run that will take nearly 3 hours at 6:30 ever again! At least Daniel and I lived through this one!