SlimCache

I've previously mentioned that my chosen 5K route in Old Orchard Beach had gotten monotonous. See When the Rain Breaks. I set out yesterday to discover a better 5K here in town. There are areas of town I've still yet to explore. I had never really visited Ocean Park until a few days ago when I took a Nordic walk around town. It seems that the Eastern Trail, a bike trail that goes from Kittery to South Portland and that I've blogged about here in the past also, runs along the streets of Ocean Park. Using that street I found recently I've built a far more interesting route.

It's amazing what a slightly different route with better sights, in this case an intiguing community, can do to lift your spirits. I felt as though I was running with ease. I'm at the tail end of my cold so I wanted to take it easy. I found that even though I was going at a leisurely pace, I was running at a level that was comparable to my previous race times. I'm anxious to get into a more formal training schedule so I can refine this further.

I'm happy I decided to pursue a different route yesterday. It's provided enough variation to keep things fresh, and I got to see a new part of the community that I'm unfamiliar with but found inspiring. I mapped the route with MapMyRun and have decided to start embedding the maps to the blog. Any feedback positive or negative on this addition to the page is welcome.