Yay for me!

For the first time ever, I ran 5 miles outside. I've run 5 miles indoors on a treadmill before. But the treadmill pretty much makes you go. It keeps your speed for you.

Outside, you are doing it all yourself. And I did it!

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it, but I just stuck to it and kept going (remember my new saying? "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop!" ~Confucius). I almost stopped a couple of times to get some water. But I kept going.

I tried a new place yesterday. It is Lake Park in the Northdale area of Tampa. It has a jogging trail that I tried. Going in, I had no idea how long the trail was or what it was like. I had never used it before. I was pleasantly surprised to see distance markers along the path. However, the first marker (0.25 miles) seemed to come pretty quickly. And the path extended past the last marker (of 1.0 miles). I ran to the end of the path anyway and turned around since the first marker seemed really close to me.

So I ran down and back, down and back then down to the 0.5 mile marker and back for a total of approximately 5 miles. I was disappointed that the trail didn't loop around and that it just ended. However, I did notice one other jogger on the trail and the 2 times I saw her, she was going in the same direction. I never left the path, so perhaps it did loop around and I just didn't notice it.

I went home and looked up the park map (why I didn't do it beforehand, I don't know). It shows a trail that goes all the way around the park, but I don't know if it was all jog-able or not. I mean, when I got to the end of the trail I was using, it ended at a parking lot. So I don't know where to go if I was to keep running. I'm sure the trail picks up again somewhere, I just don't know where. And I don't know how much of it is marked. I guess I'll need to walk it one day and just see what happens.