I zigged when I should have zagged

Today, I decided to try a new route, one that didn't loop but instead covered four miles.  I was kind of improvising because I had no idea if it would be long enough, but I figured that it was worth a try.  Now that I am back, I mapped my ideal route and it came out to 3.7 miles.  Not bad for guessing.

Except that when I should have zigged at Würmtalstraße, I did no such thing and instead just continued blissfully along, leading me to take a very scenic route that went far, far off of my original plan.  Rather than 3.7 miles, it wound up being 4.8 miles--and a bit more as I tried to figure out where on earth I had put myself by the end of my 4 miles.  However, I did discover some nice running places which are shady and pretty decent.  They are next to the graveyard, but you can't really see that from the road.  Call it the Graveyard Path instead of the garden path.

My time was horrifically awful and I had about a mile's worth of walking afterward to contemplate why.  I'm still not sure.  It's probably not worth dwelling on it.  The good news is that although my time may be slow, this is likely good for avoiding injury (remember, I did have a mile to try and put a positive spin on this).

The other answer, of course, is that no one has ever become a better runner by complaining about pace.  You only become a better runner by working at it, bit by bit, and eventually you will make improvements.  And when I say 'you,' I actually mean 'I.'

More good news: I heard thunder as I was getting back, meaning that I missed any storms.  They were saying all day that it was going to rain and I thought that the weather people had lost their minds or something.  It was totally sunny, all day, until now (it's 8:44pm).  Weather forecasting is just not quite up to par here.