Tuesdays are normally my race recap post but since I didn’t race last weekend I don’t have anything to recap. I do however; have a long run adventure in Princeton to recap.
Last week Meghan and Greta asked if I wanted to come do a long run with them in Princeton. Princeton is only 45 minutes from me so I agreed. (Living in a small state is really nice). I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into but I knew it would be a great change of scenery. The plan was to run 16 miles at roughly a 7:50 pace. Since I don’t normally run training runs remotely close to that pace (8:30 being my long run go to) I was terribly nervous. I knew I could race at that pace but holding a long run at that pace made me entirely too nervous.
With that I decided to get out of my comfort zone. After getting lost in downtown Princeton, I made it to the parking lot and we started the run. Little did I know I had already set myself up for a bad time.
The first few miles were icy and we hit some major hills. I’m actually glad I didn’t know how hilly Princeton was because I didn’t need to be anymore nervous then I already was. I get really nervous running with people and worry I’m holding them back (because I am very flexible and easy going with pace).
I was really excited with how quickly the run went and how easy the pace felt. I didn’t feel like I was going into cardiac arrest and I’m really (really) glad that I decided to push out of my comfort zone and go up there.
This post actually isn’t about the run itself. Long story short, I broke out of my comfort zone and was able to hold a pace I didn’t think would be possible. I should focus on doing that more often.
This post is about after arriving to my car 16.5 miles later, I realized I had locked my keys in my car. For those of you who don’t know, I drive an adorable 2000 Pontiac Firebird. Some refer to it as a space ship with the longest windshield and doors they have ever seen. Others just refer to my car as Lorraine since that is what I named her in high school. (It’s hard to believe Lorraine is 14 years old and I’ve had her since 2007!)
With that I stood outside wet from sweat in the 20 degree weather. One of the most miserable things post run is frozen sweat to your body. I was so lucky Greta was with me and offered me dry clothing in her car. If that isn’t true Oiselle team love…well I don’t know what is.
After calling Princeton campus safety and realizing that was a poor idea, Meghan came up with the idea of (duh) to call Triple A. After being on hold for 20 minutes they said they would be out in 75 minutes. This gave us the perfect amount of time for eating and chatting post run.
This ordeal took too long so we weren’t able to eat at the original restaurant and just went to Panera. After the restaurant being overly crowded we finished our meal and triple A came. Giving a shoutout to triple A, they came in roughly one hour which is a lot faster than usual. When they say 75 minutes, I usually assume 100 minutes or more. (That must just be a Hampton Roads thing…)
After any run all I want to do is eat and relax in warm clothing. I don’t want to fooling around with a locked car nor do I want to sitting in a crowded restaurant with screaming high schoolers. Oh well, it was completely my fault. Of course when triple A came Meghan snapped a few photos labeling them “#Hollieproblems on twitter. I got a great lol out of it but I’m not sure the triple A lady did. She was friendly though and I was grateful she was able to easily pop open my door. (luckily I don’t have automatic locks…that would be a pain).
So lesson learned…pay more attention. I know being scatterbrained has always been a big weakness of mine and this was just another example of it. This all could have been avoided if I had brought my A game. We all make mistakes though and I was grateful to have two new friends to run and then stay with me. I didn’t let it stress me out or ruin my day.
These are just issues I face daily and that’s why I have enough content for a blog…but really.
Finally, please don’t forget to vote #lolzfornapa!
Questions for you:
Have you ever locked your keys in your car?
The other time I locked my keys in my car was in downtown Washington DC at a gas station…that is a lol for another day.
What is one thing you like to do post long run?
Nothing wrong with dropping the pace of a long run once in a while. Little mix of tempo and long run. Little slower than a race, little longer than a race. Good efforts.
I once locked my keys in my car with it running. I was outside the swim shop and had to wait for my mom (who was 25 minutes away). Thankfully it was summertime…
I am glad my car has a mechanism to prevent that because I’m positive I would have a few stories like that!
Glad to see you step out of that comfort zone and live to post about it Hollie lol 🙂 and #hollieproblems eh’ haha love it! Annnnd yes I have locked my keys in the car so you are soooo not alone. I’ve even done a double play lock myself out of the house and car in the same day haha! Now for question #2 I usually like going progressive on my long runs. Starting slow and finishing strong is a nice confidence booster. Glad to hear you could make lite of the whole car key dealeo shows character 🙂
Progressive runs are my favorite too Lee! I love the feeling of being able to hammer down some speedy miles at the end versus just dying and lagging.
Yep! Totally sooo much better than the whole deer in the headlights feel at the end of a run and I do an ugly deer in the headlights impersonation when it happens hahaha
doesn’t it feel awesome though? I know i do the same thing, think I can’t do but when i bust out of that zone I feel so accomplished. it is why I love running with other people to shake pace up
I locked my keys in the car years ago, and let’s just say…maybe some tears were shed, I dunno….
Also, this post is encouraging for me! I have this weird insecure phobia about running with anyone (besides husband) because I am worried I am too fast (unlikely) or too slow(usually) and I never want anyone else to feel the same. Ridiculously cyclical worry, right? So, taking a leap here and running with my speedy, athletic neighbor friend this weekend!
Good luck Linda!
I’ve always been really nervous to run with others because I don’t want my “I don’t care pace” interfere with others.
Knock on wood, I have only done this once and it was at my home so I could go in and get my spare key. But I can see where it would be easy to do in a new place, running with new people, and being nervous! Stuff just happens! I’m glad AAA got there super quick and you had some warm clothes to put on with that cold there.
Ahh, that is my biggest fear. I literally check my bag every time I get out of the car because I’m worried I’ll do that. When we are used to tying a key to our laces or placing it in a pocket before a run, that little risk factor always goes up. Just so you know, you can usually call the police and they’ll come by and open the car for you too. I know it’s not an emergency but if they happen to have someone nearby, they’ll help. We did that with a friend before and the police officer was super cool about it.
I called campus police and they seem offended that I would ask them. I couldn’t believe it because my college has regularly opened people’s cars.
I should have checked. I felt so dumb when it happened.
My roommate and I locked her keys in the car at a Subway in college. We were on our way out of town for a christian retreat and we had all of the sound equipment in our car! It was rainy and cold, and we cried when we finally got to our destination. Thankfully AAA didn’t take very long…being stopped at a storefront with an exact address helps!
Post long runs, I like a gatorade, a Clif bar, and a shower. Then laziness. 🙂
I have also a time or two, luckily I was always close to home and my dad has a spare key 🙂
After a post long run I honestly love a nice hot shower then bring on the food!
I have locked my keys in the car- I may or may not have also forgot to put my car in park, and then wondered why it wouldn’t start after grocery shopping for an hour..
After a long run I like to plop on my bed and not move for about a half hour.
Glad your ordeal ended well and you can laugh about it! Making memories 🙂
Congrats on the speedy long run! I’ve never locked my keys in my car, but I have locked myself out of my house, and that sucks too.
oh dear… I don’t have my full licence yet, so I can’t even drive, but I can imagine myself doing that as I’ve locked myself out of the house a few times and had to go through my window…
Glad to hear about your run though, wow for Princeton, was looking at that college, but realized it would not be the uni for me! So many colleges to choose from though, but have news I have decided now… it will be in a post later or meso I promise… it’s exciting as means I will hopefully be over there in 4 months! COUNTDOWN!!! 🙂 Wow another ramble… opps… Oh and with getting out of comfort zone, I need to do that more often too.. 🙂
Yup I’ve totally done that. Luckily my parents had a spare and my dad was able to get the key from their house and bring it to me. My new car only has one key so I’m extremely paranoid I’ll lose it or something (mental note maybe I should get a spare made… haha)
I feel like I’ve locked my keys in my car and left a light on inside causing the battery to die more times than I can count. One time I did that the night before my mom was about to drive me across the country so I could start college in Georgia so the car was dead in the morning as we were about to leave. Not the best way to start a long road trip. Luckily my family has been AAA members for like 27 years so I can call them often…
Oh geez! One of my biggest fears is that leaving the radio on will cause the battery to die!
This sounds like the kind of thing I do all the time… *groan* glad you had people there while you waited. My perfect post-long run activity is… Nothing. Okay, well, a bath and the nothing.
I have sadly done that far too many times. Triple A is a lifesaver.
I even did it once at water world and I told park security… they radioed in the fire department who showed up in a big fire truck to open my window… that was super subtle and didn’t attract attention at all… not.
oh man what a bummer! I don’t usually lock my keys in, but leave them behind. sometimes I find them still in the front door haha
In high school, I realized I forgot an assignment and ran back in to get it. Came out and realized I had forgotten my car automatically locks, so my keys were locked in the car with the car running halfway up the driveway. That was fun….
I just LOLd at this…sooooo funny and It is totally something I would have done, too!!!!
great job on pushing out of your comfort zone! friends always make it easier don’t they?! that stinks about the key debacle, but glad you had good friends and teammates to keep you company and pass the time. once i was visiting my grandparents in oregon and my grandma and i decided to go kayaking around the bay. well, i got the kayak out and inflated and continued to shut the trunk of my grandma’s miata with her purse and keys in it. OOPS! i don’t remember it taking too long for help to arrive, but we also had the distraction of the sea side to keep us busy 🙂
Haha I laughed when you said that the run recap wasn’t the point of the post and that locking your keys in the car was. I used to ALWAYS lock my keys in my car! Thank god for cars that beep at you when you open your doors and the keys are still in the ignition. I get beeped at every single morning when I get to work and I really do think about how glad I am that my car beeps or I’d be locking my keys in the car all the time. But I did it probably 10 times in high school and although I had a spare in my purse, I never locked JUST my keys in my car! I always always always locked my purse in my car too, which had the spare in it. I also once locked my cell phone in my purse at CVS and the only phone number I knew by heart was my friend Laura’s, so I had to call her (from CVS), ask her for her friend’s phone number because she was dating my brother, call her and get my brother’s phone number, and then ask my brother for my dad’s phone number. I can’t believe that ALL of them answered their phones… I’m not sure why my mom never told me to call AAA back then because we’ve always had it. Whatever. At least you had company!!!
I used to be much more a spaz and locked my keys in my car on a semi-regular basis. I once locked my keys in my Jeep while it was running. I also went grocery shopping once and put my groceries in the trunk along with my purse, cell phone, and keys, and then (spaz) shut the trunk. It was cold, it was dark, and I had to approach a stranger and ask to borrow their cell phone to call my (then) boyfriend to come get me.
I once locked my keys and my (then) 2-year-old son in the car when I ran about ten feet to drop off a book at the library in the return slot. I totally panicked and started freaking out. My son, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious and sat there laughing hysterically. I finally convinced him that it was NOT funny, and he managed to unbuckle his carseat and open the door for me. Just call me 1999 Mother of the Year.
I love how you didn’t let such a situation ruin your run or your overall day- I HATE having car troubles and have once locked myself out…..calling it a headache is generous.
Lord if this situation ruined my day, I would have a lot more day ruiners ahead.
I’ve managed to avoid locking myself out of my car since I bought it in 2006. However, I sometimes leave my keys in my doorknob to my apartment. Whoops!
I’ve done that too! I did that in college overnight in the dorms once….I’m really glad nothing came out of that!
Ugh, I did that after a race once. (Well–actually it was that the batter in my key fob died, but still, couldn’t get into car for phone, dry clothes, etc.) It was probably 50F & foggy & although I was perfectly comfortable in my sports bra & shorts during the race, I was shivering within five minutes. Finally a friendly volunteer gave me a free shirt (and later refused to take money for it) & let me use her phone to call AAA. Glad you got it worked out!
Omph I’m glad it all worked out. If I have learned anything it’s that you can get cold/hypothermia in any temperature.
I’ve never locked my keys in my car, but I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve forgotten my keys at home when I was younger and locked myself out of my house. I had to break in through windows more times than I care to admit, but that all ended after I told my parents how easy it was to sneak in 😆 After that I ended up hanging out in the garage waiting for someone to get home and let me in.
I’m terrified of the idea of locking my keys in my car. I always loop the ring over my finger when I take them out of the ignition so I make sure I don’t do that.
Been votin! And yes…urgh. The worst ever. I’ve also gotten into the awful habit of leaving my phone on my desk at work, only to turn back for it 5 minutes later!
Heck yeah for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone!
Some people are afraid of dogs when they run, my greatest single fear is locking my keys in my car or losing them while out on the run, yikes! I’m glad you ha friends with you to help!
One time, I locked my boyfriends keys in the car at a gas station. While the car was running.i actually didn’t have a cell phone and had to borrow the gas stations phone to call him…he was NOT amused…. Oh well..lessons learned? Or laughs now, ten years later?? It can only get better!!!
I had to laugh then…otherwise I would be so grumpy hahah!
Congrats on sticking with a tough pace! I’m really working on “being uncomfortable” lately. I tend to back off the moment I breathe too hard…not good for improving speed!
I have never locked my keys in my car thank goodness, but I’m always scared I’ll drop them while out on a run. I like to NAP post long run!
Yes. Napping is number one.
Working to be uncomfortable is definitely one of my main training goals this cycle!
Oh no, after running 16+ miles I would be so cranky if I couldn’t get in my car. Then again what are friends for if not for helping us laugh about these type of things?! 🙂
The last time I locked my keys in the car was last summer when I and some friends had a rental and were driving across the country. At the gas station one of us left the keys in the car and the doors automatically locked when they closed. We had called AAA but it took them almost two hours to get there. Not many laughs were had until much, much later! haha.
OMG we have the same shoes. Eating is my number one priority following a long run! Love your blog, thanks for finding me!
Twinners! I’m glad you did too! Thank you for stopping by 🙂
Ive locked my keys in my car more times than I can count.
Favorite thing to do post run, lay in roadkill position.
Two days after getting my first car (I was 28 and thought I’d therefore know better than to make these mistakes) I locked both sets of keys in the glove compartment when I came home from work. And failed to notice anything was amiss until I went to leave the house the next day.
(Love your blog!)
Thank you for stopping by!
Funny enough I have definitely done similar things.
Yikes, well aside from the AAA incident (happened to me twice during college; both times were in a Wegmans parking lot), that’s awesome the run went well. I totally relate to worrying about holding people back in terms of pace. During my swim workout this morning, I was in a lane with two coaches, and I was so nervous I was slowing them down–but I was sticking with them and maintaining our pace. Isn’t it crazy how we can surprise ourselves?