Whew... that was fun!

I set out on my run the other night just as I had planned. It was a gorgeous Minnesota fall evening. The sun was warm, but the air was getting cooler as the day went on. Perfect. I drove to a lake just a few miles from my house, parked where I could find a spot and hopped on the trail along with all the other runners, walkers and bikers out that afternoon. The loop is about 2.6 miles, and I had planned to do two loops.

The run started out great, which is partly due to the Mumford & Sons music coming into my ears. Now that I think about it, that's not really workout type of music, but it worked for me that night. I set out with a decent pace. My goal was to run slowly in order to do two loops, but sometimes you get in a groove and you just go with it. I finished loop one and felt like I had done a good job. I looked over at my parked car and really wanted to get in and go home. The other part of me knew I should run more. The sun was setting more and I really hate being alone in the dark despite the high traffic path I was running on. There was time for a little more, so I went on.

I decided turn around once I got to a certain point. The certain point was a big curve in the path that overlooks the lake. There's a little bench for people to sit on and relax. The certain point is also at the top of a little hill. Seemed like a natural place to turn. When I got to that little bench on top of the hill, I turned right around and headed back for the car. My body felt great. This was a fun run because while I didn't do 2 laps, I pushed myself more than I thought I would.

Right before I got to the car, I looked out over the lake and had to stop to take a picture with my phone.

These 4.6 miles, in this beautiful weather, in this gorgeous area of the world, completely brought my sanity back.