Lost!

I got lost on last night's run. Not geographically lost - I was perfectly aware of where I was and how to get back - I've lived in the area for 7 years, I'm not that bad! No, I became lost from the rest of the group. However, this did occur as a result of my own inability to follow simple, geographically related instructions and whilst I was running up and down the same stretch of road waiting for the rest of my club to come back to me, they were somewhere else entirely waiting for me to catch up to them!

This bizarre situation occured because I was feeling too wimpish to run up 'Evil Hill'; this is the steepest hill in the world in Chadderton; a quiet country road which stretches only about 100 metres but oh, is it a killer! Since we set off, I found I was struggling; tired and sluggish, my breathing was sluggish and my legs felt like someone had tied them down with lead weights and I was hanging precariously off the back of the group. So when Pete offered me a way out of Evil Hill: 'You're on your taper period Maggie, it's not about pushing yourself... it's up to you, but you don't have to run up it, we'll meet back up with you', with visions in my mind of the others waiting for me at the top of the hill, whilst I had slowly died with every step taken up it, I took the easy option!


The others took off up the hill and Pete gave me instructions to meet back up. This is where it all went wrong. Misinterpreting the instructions, I believed them to be coming back in my direction and promptly ran up and down the same road several times until their return. Their return never came. Completely oblivious to the concern and confusion of the others as to where I had ended up, I continued plodding up and down the same road. Up...and down. Up...and down. Up...and down. 'This is strange' I thought to myself, 'Surely they'd be back by now... maybe it's further than I thought.'... Up... and down. Up... and down. 'I wonder what the time is', I pondered as my watch signalled another mile run... 7.53pm? 'That's not right!' Realising that, as happy as I'd been in my own little world running back and forth along this quiet country road, there was only 7 minutes left until club finished, that I was just over a mile from the finish point, and that I had clearly not got the instructions right, I promptly set off back to the track!

So you see, not technically 'lost', but lost all the same! As the light faded and I realised I should maybe have kept a closer eye on the time, my rescue arrived! Completely baffled as to what I could have possibly have done wrong, the others had set off back to track expecting to at least come across me on the way. Splitting into two groups, they had covered both potential routes back to the track and had still failed to find me! So, realising I was well and truly lost somewhere in the wilderness of Chadderon, Pete had set off on a rescue mission in his car! As it was, quite handily, I became 'unlost' at the bottom of another massive hill, so I even managed to avoid running up that one! Bonus I reckon!

Needless to say, I'll take the butch option next time and run up the hill! On the plus side, I managed to clock up around 4 miles what with running back and forth along that road...

Distance: 4 miles (approx... the garmin did record the rescue journey in the car as well!)
Feeling: Lost!

Weather: warm and windy.