How My Casual Run Turned Into a Forced Half Marathon
Sometimes when life offers you lemons, you just got to run half marathon.
I was casually planning on going for my scheduled marathon training work out. I was supposed to run a bit over 11 kilometers or around 5 miles. I measured the trip on the map before I went for the run. I couldn’t use my phone as the GPS doesn’t work in the cold Finnish weather.
As background information, I started training for a marathon 1 week ago, and my typical length for running is around 10 kilometers. My longest ever running has been 15 kilometers. In Finland, the temperature is at -6 Celsius, which is around 21 Fahrenheit.
After planning, I started running.
I had run around 2 kilometers when I turned in the wrong direction. Then it all started. The route I accidentally chose turned out to be a dead-end with two branches. After going to the end of them both, I realized I had turned in the wrong direction. I was aware of my approximate position, but the road was not on the map. I believed the correct route went around 200 meters from where I was, so I ought to find the right direction by running through the forest.
As one could expect, I was running a circle and went a bit in the wrong direction. After going around 20 minutes in the hard-to-run forest, I ended up on a different road. By now, my clothes were wet, and I was lost.
I knew the forest path I ended up on was leading towards the main road. Thus I decided to keep going on the main road to see where I was. I started to feel tired after running one and a half hours and thought of walking. As I slowed down, it made me colder. I had wet clothes in -6 celsius weather. Walking was not an option, and I could only go faster. I now realized I was forced to run.
Main Road in Sight
I finally did find the main road and was able to find the route in which I was supposed to go. From this place, I could measure the distance back. It was over 7 kilometers, and I had to run to stay warm.
After a painfully long run, when I got home I was feeling cold and stiffness in my body. I warmed up the Sauna and drank like a gallon of water. I was now able to start looking at the map and see where I went wrong, on which road I went and how much I had run.
The road which I had chosen was for forestry machines. It went straight while the main road turned. It was also broader than the main road. No wonder I got lost. After measuring the length of my trip, I was surprised. The total estimated length was 22 kilometers. 22 kilometers in 2 hours and 17 minutes. Including estimated 3 kilometers of running in the hard-to-go forest. I had been running more than half a marathon.
Estimated Total Length of Trip: 22 Kilometers
Time: 2 hours 17 minutes
I now call the trip a forced half marathon. The only way to survive was to run.
