Knowing Your Running Route

Sometimes it's better not knowing. If you know how you're going to feel an hour into your run, or if you know you still have 16K more to go, it might be discouraging. But as they say, knowledge is power, and knowing you still have 16K to go -- well, turn it into a positive!

I would rather know, and I maintain that, if you can, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with your running route. I wasn't able to do it for the Las Vegas half, other than look at maps. I didn't have a Garmin watch then so I had no idea how far I'd gone, and if there were signs up every mile or every kilometre, well I kept missing them. Towards the end, people cheering from the side of the road were screaming, "One more mile!!!" which I took literally. Ten minutes later, when I thought I was nearly finished, I saw a "one mile" sign. Needless to say, the last mile just got a whole lot longer.

Before I did the Lost Dutchman half, I drove the route. So I knew how far and how long. Knowing I had "at least another hour of this" is, to me, better than thinking "How the hell much longer??"

Music is a must too. I couldn't do it without music. Either the beat keeps me going, or else I associate the tune with something upbeat in my life, and the energy flows!

Right now I'm looking at "the Five-Miler" around Jessie Lake, originating with Robin Tizzard of Lakeland College. That's May 14th. Then in June there's a 10K Summit Run in the river valley in Prince Albert (a nice stop between home and the grandkids in Hudson Bay! cuts down on a long drive.) Another 10K in Calgary on Aug 13. We'll be there anyway. What appeals to me about it is, it's an evening run. Wonder how I'd like that? I see the Vegas runs this December are going to be evening runs.