9 mile run

Okay. I was supposed to run 9 miles the saturday after Thanksgiving. We went to San Antonio for Thanksgiving. Scott has 2 sisters there and his parents and another sister flew in as well. That is all well and good but that meant that I was all alone on my big run and with no idea where to run. I don't know San Antonio very well. My friend Richelle usually sets the route and I only have to show up and be the slowest runner of the bunch. Not hard. This time I had to grow up (I am also the old lady of the running group) and figure it out myself. I did it. I found the greatest running park ever. I ran at McAllister Park. It is basically a park with running trees and biking paths that runs through trees. It has 2 marked cross country paths. One was a 10K which is 6.3 something miles and then there was a 2.2 something mile path. I just didn't know were these paths were or where they started. So I ran about 1.5 miles before I found the trailhead. Then I hit the 6.3 something mile path. It was great. It wound around in the trees and I felt like it was just me in the middle of the wilderness. I saw 15 deer. I can't remember when I last time I saw a dear before that. This park is in the middle of San Antonio. It had the miles marked out so I knew how far I had gone. Then I finished the 10K and I decided to take the 2.2 mile path. So I kept going even though that would have been 10 miles by the time I was done. I figured that I could do it and it would be no big deal. So I did it. I ran the 2.2 mile path thinking it was a loop because the other path was a loop. I was wrong. It just dumped me 2 miles or so away from my car. I was completely lost. This isn't like a normal park where you can see the parking lot. All you can see are trees and then some paths cut through every now and then. So I came to a road and kept walking back and forth thinking that it had to connect. It didn't. So I decided to run back the way I had come. So to make a long story even longer, I decided to cut through some other trails that had people on them so they had to lead somewhere. I ran most of the way and walked some. I finally found the car. I had only been on the trails for 3 hours. I'm pretty sure I ran a total of 11 miles, at least. I couldn't believe it. And it wasn't just straight flat running. There were some hills and rocks and tree roots to jump over and I only tripped once. I am pretty amazed with myself. I'm sure that I have bored the rest of you to tears but I thought that it was amazing.