I like to know where I am in my run. It helps me pace myself. I have gone a different direction on the walking trail for a few weeks in a row, and I’m still trying to find landmarks on that trail. It’s a very pretty run, but much of it looks the same. I’m always on the lookout for the mile markers, and trying to correlate them to the time on my watch. I also look for landmarks so I can know how far I am from the next mile marker. My goal is to know where I am in my run, without having to look at a watch or count miles, but just by the landmarks I see around me.

The first time I ran this alternate way on the walking trail, I didn’t know any of the landmarks. I had to gauge where I was by the time on my watch. Knowing that it takes me approximately 45 minutes to run three miles, I can tell by the time on my watch how far along I must be. I compare that to the pilot that flies by gauges only – not by looking out the window. It feels a little odd not to know any of the landmarks, but I know that I can trust in the timing on my watch to know where I am.

And so I have fun on this new pathway, watching to discover any and all landmarks and to make this unfamiliar path into a familiar one.