An Unexpected Run

I have a run to add to my Running Chart. The other day, I took my car to the shop to have some work done. Most of it was routine – oil change, tire rotation, and the like. But I also needed them to take a look at my trunk. Something funky was going on. My trunk was going through periods where it wouldn’t open at all. Other times it would only open when I pulled up on it while hitting the trunk button on my keychain. It was getting to be a pain in the ass. I’ve been piling groceries in the backseat for months, afraid that if I put them in the trunk, I’d never get them out again, and the produce would rot into a smelly disgusting mess.

My service advisor is a wonderful woman named Fiona whom I really like and trust. She knows me, knows my car, and takes my calls and puts up with my dumb questions even though she got promoted last year to a big cheese, head honcho management position that doesn’t require her to interact with customers. So when Fiona came back and told me I needed a new trunk actuator, which is the gizmo that actually unlatches the trunk, I bought a new trunk actuator. I wasn’t keen on spending a couple hundred more bucks than I was intending, but I was keen on having a trunk that operated properly.

The other downside to getting a new trunk actuator, besides the cash money, was that I had a few extra hours to kill without a car. My plan for the day had been to go to the gym after leaving the dealership, but having to wait a few extra hours while they installed the actuator messed up my day. The good news was that I was already in my gym clothes. So I made a spur of the moment decision to take advantage of my waiting around time and go for a run.

It’s been a while since I’ve run during the day – most of the time I prefer running at night. The streets are quieter and I don’t have to deal with the hot California sun. But at 11am, with my wallet and phone locked away in Fiona’s desk, I headed out onto the streets and started running. My route, which I made up as I went along:

I look at that route and I think, only if I kept running east on Magnolia for a few more blocks, I’d have a route map in the shape of the state of Oklahoma!

Which, naturally, gets me thinking about what other state shapes I could replicate as running routes. There’d be lots of states that would be easy to recreate: Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico… but states like Maryland, West Virginia, Alaska, and my home state of Michigan would be a little trickier.

And if you ever needed more proof that I’m a big ol’ nerd, there it is. You’re welcome.

That route totaled 3.9 miles, and I completed it in 41 minutes. I really wanted to go 45 minutes, but the sun was blindingly bright and hot, and I had to stop. I was sweaty and exhausted, and it didn’t bother me at all that I fell 4 minutes short. I tacked on an extra-long cool-down walk, and was out on the sidewalks for an hour total. Then I returned to the waiting room, drank a liter of water, and watched the local noon news until my car was ready to go.

I just did the math, and figured out that I averaged 5.7 mph on that run, which is pretty good, considering the sun and all. I just added this run to my Running Chart, which you can see here.

Keep it up, David!