Tonight was wk6 run3. I was nervous about it because it's the first continuous run I've done on my own (wk5 run3 was done with a friend) and I forgot my headphones so I had nothing to distract me from my breathing!
I planned to do a forest route I did for WK 6 run 1 but in reverse. I was very focused on keeping it slow to start as it was downhill and it would be so easy to just GO and then have nothing left. I remember doing a time check at the 'halfway' point and being only 10-11min in and thinking wow that was quick but there is a lot of up hill to come so keep it slow. Then there was a junction and a cute friendly dog, who was determined to say hello, before the uphill started! It was really tough and it was so tempting to stop especially when it didn't look all the familiar. By the end of uphill there was 9-10 min to go. Then there was a short flat and a nice downhill I could see a gate at the bottom. At that point I thought I'd missed my turn to the carpark while I was focused on just keeping going and I'd end up on the road that goes past the carpark entrance.
I was kind of right I got through the gate and there was a road it just wasn't the one I was expecting!! I'd got turned around at see point and run straight through the forest!! The problem was I still had a couple of minutes running to go and a choice between going back uphill into the forrest or the flat road. I went for the flat road in the direction I thought would start the ******* long walk back.
During the cool down I txt my husband to let him know I'd be late home and not to worry I hadn't hurt myself. He'd skipped his running club so with the help of Google maps he came and rescued me.
I'm so happy I managed to keep going but so annoyed I have no idea far I ran as I have no idea how I ended up where I did. Normally I wouldn't care but I'm trying to do run down dementia and log 100km by the end of August.
I've got turned around in that forest before but this is the first time I've had a rescue and the first time I haven't been able to work out where I went wrong!!