Running when you are away from home

Being away from home for an extended period of time can put a cramp in the best of running schedules. While running in different places can often be challenging, if you follow a few procedures it can be no problem.

If you are staying in a strange house or hotel room, be sure there is a landmark outside such as your car or house number. If you are using an address be sure to write it down. It can be difficult after running a few miles to find a house or room when they are all alike.

Always go straight. The fewer turns you make the less chance of getting lost.

Read street signs as you run past them. If you have some general idea of where you are and the layout of the area it helps. This is great if you never have to turn, when you are ready to quit you can just turn around and go back.

Always turn the same way. If you have to always turn left, leaving and right returning, this will make it much easier to find your way back.

Just run a small area and repeat it till you are ready to quit. This is the best way to keep from getting lost but not as scenic. A large loop can be a nice run and is not bad repeated a few times.

I remember running at my daughters house. I thought I would stay on the same street and just do an out and back to keep from getting lost. I came to this park and thought that's a nice park. Why not run around in there for a while? So I did and somehow managed to exit on a different road than the one that I came in on. I had to ran for a few miles before I realized I was on a different street. So much for my out and back course. I kept running around trying to find that street but nooo. After over 3 hours of running in the rain I saw a police car sitting by the curb so I asked them where that street was. I finally got back to my daughter's house. Our son-in-law was out driving around looking for me and my wife and daughter were worried crazy about me. I got in a nice long run in that day.