Went for a great run this morning, well great for the most part. There's a park system here in Toronto connecting several really large parks with creeks, woods, trails, gardens... It was nice running, and I was especially thankful to the Lord for helping my hip to keep healing (no pain today).

One problem though...I figured I'd run an out-and-back course, since I know nothing of Toronto and didn't want to get lost. Unfortunately on the way back I took a little section of trail I hadn't taken on the way out. I was starting to get concerned, but then met up with the creek I'd been following for a while, and figured "just follow this back to where you started".



Good idea, but next time it would be good for me to take an inventory of how many creeks there are before assuming every creek I see is the one that will lead me back. By the time I realized I was well off course I was trapped in a maze of overgrown trails (using the term trails loosely here...more like raccoon paths among the dead tree branches and overgrown plants trying to trip me up.) I was also absolutely drenched in sweat head to toe (normal for me, though this was beyond even my standards...more humid here than home I think). So on this oh-so-hot day, running under the noon sun, in a city I am unfamiliar with I started thinking..."hmm which way should I go, and just how long is this run going to be?" Not a fun feeling when you're already "bonking" from not eating before the run or during.

I had started with what I thought was plenty of water in a bottle I carried, but I was quickly fading now that I had already run longer than planned and still didn't know my way back to the car nor how long it would take. By the way, fun experiment...see if you can get lost in the woods in a city of over 3 million people. I was successful. I've found a good strategy is to cross various creeks whenever you get the chance, run up ridiculously steep ridges, get stuck in too much plant life, turn around, take the next creek crossing available and repeat.

I'm probably exagerating this all a bit, since it turned out I ended up running something like 12 miles, which I have done on many occasions. For some reason though, the combination of being lost, hungry, thirsty, and more tired than normal just made the run keep stretching out.

Still a great run though...very peaceful and rewarding.

-ET