Due to the hours spent trudging along with a sledge attached to me my fitness and strength are currently pretty good. Not wanting to lose what I worked hard to gain I've accidentaly entered the ballot for the Edinburgh Marathon; it will give me a focus that will encourage me to train. Today I decided to test my legs by going for an 80-90 minute run. The problem was that none of my current routes are that long, so I did some research. Armed with directions scribbled on the back of an envelope and a little bit of water I headed off ...
The first 65 minutes went well, then I lost the path, then I discovered another one in the corner of a field and followed it. The path led into a field of shouty women and men armed with green barber jackets and guns. Not wanting to be shot or concussed by falling pheasants I ran away, then I lost the trail again, I found another but, according to the compass on my watch, it was heading 180 degrees in the wrong direction, little bother as soon I'd lost that path as well.
Things were a little serious now as I'd been out of water for a while, I was getting cold and I couldn't go back due to the scary barber wearing men. I slowed to a walk in order to conserve energy and lose less water through sweat and decided to find a road as that was more likely to have a taxi to home on it than the paths/streams I was running down. 30 minutes later I found a road and discovered, somehow, that I was exactly where I wanted to be. 20 minutes of running later I was home ... I'd been out yomping through mud/streams/killing fields for two and a quarter hours!!
I'm now knackered but very happy as my run turned into an adventure. How many of our everyday tasks/journeys could be turned into an adventure by going a different route, losing ourselves for a while and having to problem solve in order to complete them? Amundsen said that 'Adventure is simple bad planning' ... I'm all for a little less planning and a little more adventure!