Breakin the law

Running used to be a monotonous chore for me when I first started. It was something I didn't really want to do but knew in the end I could lose some weigh if I stuck with it. In the past year however I have started running with a group and my passion for running has really taken off. I think the whole group & social dynamic of it is wonderful. Now I am not going to give a dissertation on Running and the Social aspect of it. If you want to read something like that, check out this amazing post by The Una Runner here.

I am going to briefly talk about a run I went on recently with someone from my normal running group and 2 strangers. Well, strangers is not the right word but rather Online Personalities might be a bit more fitting for them. I am "friends"  with them on Twitter & Dailymile. It started when one of the online personalities got a new pair of trail shoes. She was pumped and the shoes were new and pretty. They needed dirt on them badly. She mentioned on going out to a local state park and breaking them in. Well what would happen later in the week would be one of the most fun 3.3 mile jaunt I've ever been on.

The 4 of us planned on meeting butt early (5:30am) at a local State Park. However we shortly realized a couple things that would make this more of an adventure than your typical run: 1) It would be dark as hell at 5:30am and 2) The park doesn't open until 7am. Well number 1 was easily remedied with a trip to Home Depot and the purchase of a head lamp, and well number 2 was remedied by sneaking into the park from a trailhead that let out at a local neighborhood.

Law Breakers

Since I had a long run planned for later that week I decided (with the person from my normal running group) that I would cut the run short with only a few miles and check off the "Breaking into a State Park" item off my bucket list. So the 4 of us strapped on our headlamps and set off into the woods. It was awesome. I really don't know why I was enjoying it so much but I think it was a mix of knowing I was getting away with something and not really being able to see where I was going. It was incredible and I wished I could have gone longer.

Anyway, half-arsed planned runs like this really spice can up your training and keep your training fresh and exciting. I'd love to hear some stories from you on crazy runs you have participated in. I don't care how fast you went, but what did you do to make it different?