Longest unintentional add on to a run?

13 turned into 24 by yours truly. I was hitting major walls due to my heightened anxiety too. Everybody i asked for directions was terrible too.

Overshot the entrance to a road and turned down the next one, which I thought was parallel to it. Turns out it actually went perpendicular. By the time I realized where it had taken me I had gone 6mi in the complete wrong direction. Ran 6mi back to where I had made the wrong turn and then had to finish the loop down the correct road.

Even worse, this was part of a tempo. I had just finished the 6mi tempo part before making the wrong turn. Instead of a 4mi cooldown I got a 16mi cooldown.

I once ran three miles to my hotel after finishing a marathon.

Huala wrote:

What's the farthest you've unintentionally added to a run by getting lost, etc.? Once I was on my way down to Florida and stayed the night in a hotel in Northern Tennessee. I went for a run before leaving the next morning planning to go 9-10 and ended up running 14 because I couldn't find a parallel road. Other than that I can't really remember getting too horribly lost.

Intended to run 18, ended up running 25. It was not pleasant.

I was in Anchorage, Alaska at the Alyeska Ski Resort for a conference. I had about an hour to get in a run before dinner, so I decided to check out one of the hiking trails. It appeared to be about a hour run, but the map apparently wasn't drawn to scale. I knew I had to cross a creek about 40 minutes out, but it never showed up. It was obvious I was the first person on the trail that summer. I was a little worried about bears, but I kept going.

Finally, about an hour into the run, I hear a roaring in the distance. It's a river gorge about 50 meters wide and 100 feet deep! I thought it was going to just be a tiny creek. There was no bridge. Instead, there was a gondola to stand in to pull yourself across by rope! I knew there was a road on the other side of the river, so it would be faster (I thought) if I just got into that flimsy looking contraption and pulled myself across.

After five minutes of working up my courage, I began to pull myself across the gorge with the overhead rope while standing in the gondola. The roaring of the water was deafening at the middle, but the worst part was the gondola was so heavy the cable sagged. It was easy going downhill to the middle of the river, but then I had to pull myself slowly uphill, knowing that if I ever stopped, the gondola would just slide back down to the low point over the middle of the river.

I was sweating so hard, I couldn't see, but I couldn't stop pulling that cable. No one even knew I was out there. I hadn't told anyone I was going for a run. Now, I really regretted it. Eventually, I made it across. After reflecting on how stupid I was to do that and how great it was to still be alive, I started back to the resort. I was now 90 minutes into my one hour run.

Only then did it sink in that the resort was now on the OTHER side of the river! No way I was going over in that gondola again, so I resolved to run down river until I came to a bridge. I assumed there would be one at the resort, but no such luck. Eventually I found one several miles further down the river. I had to cross it and then run back (uphill) to the resort.

Four and a half hours after I started my one hour run, I made it back my starting point.

Back in college I used to do an easy four miles in the canyon to the tunnel, then back to the school. Early one Saturday it was such perfect weather, and I felt so good, I decided to keep going. I had never been on the other side of the tunnel on foot. I was checking out the geology and just enjoying the run. Eventually I started to get tired, so I looked for the next marker on the road to see how far I had gone since the tunnel: 8.5 miles! Luckily it was downhill all the way back. I did a run-walk and finished my first ever 25-miler in about 4 hours total, with no water. Before that day my previous longest run was about 10 miles, and it was another 23 years before I went over 10 miles again. Back then I did do many 100-mile bike rides though, so I wasn't completely unprepared.

I'll be surprised if anyone comes up with something to top fisky's story. Mine is nowhere near but a little different from any of those already posted, so I'll toss it out anyway.

I went for a 10-mile run in a driving sleet storm in upstate New York one morning, thinking the whole time how terrific it would feel to jump into a hot shower upon arriving back home. I reached my front door, reached for my zippered jacket pocket to retrieve my house key, and discovered to my horror that the pocket was unzipped and the key was gone. No idea where I had lost it on the 10-mile route. I lived alone and had no one to let me into the house, and I didn't have a key hidden on the premises.

My first instinct was to lie down on the porch and cry, but I quickly decided that would be counterproductive. I considered breaking a window, but that would be expensive to fix and would leave my little house open to the frigid winter storm. So I went with Plan B, which was to retrieve my spare key from my office, 4.5 miles away. I kicked my frozen body back into some sort of jog and set off down the bike path. The sleet grew heavier and the wind got stronger, and after a while the sleet was coming at me completely horizontally. I just kept telling myself "you're a marathoner, 14.5 miles is nothing."

I finally reached my building. It was still only about 7:30 am but I found a janitor who knew me and let me into my office. I made a beeline for the spare set of sweat clothes I had stashed away there, grabbed my key, and sat in my office shivering uncontrollably.

I would like to say that I then sucked it up and ran the 4.5 miles back home, but that would be a lie. I picked up the phone and called a taxi to take me back home. And that hot shower felt even better when I finally got it.

I'm a New Yorker and found myself in Macon, GA on business. I was done with meetings by mid-afternoon and decided to do an hour run before dinner. The hotel was north of Macon, off the highway but in the middle of nowhere. This was before Garmins so I thought I'd just run straight down the road in front of the hotel for 30 min. before turning around and heading back. At 20 min. in, the road emptied into a deserted sand quarry with all these big piles I had to run around before finding the road to pick up on the other side. At 30 min. I turned around and headed back and entered the quarry again. As I got to the other side, I saw 4 or 5 roads leading in that looked exactly the same. Everything along these rural roads was covered in Kudzu so it was just a big green rolling featureless mass. I tried going down the road that looked like it was directly across but after 30 min. And no hotel, I had to turn back toward the quarry. The whole way I never saw another car, person, house or business! Back at the quarry I marked the roads fearing I might be in for a long process. 30 min. down my next choice turned up only Kudzu road so it was back to the f**kin quarry again. On the 3rd try, I wasn't at the hotel by 30 min. but it was starting to get twilight and I could see some sky glow in the distance so I just kept running toward it. I eventually came to a crossroad that was a slightly bigger road and could see headlights approaching a long way off. I was able to flag down the vehicle when it approached and it was a utility repair guy in a bucket truck. I told him where I was trying to go and he said I was WAY off course. He offered me a ride out of southern hospitaliy and pity/disgust. I had been running for more than 3 hours. I offered him a beer at the hotel bar but he just wanted to be rid of me. When I told the contractors about it the next day, they said they couldn't believe my stupid ass wasn't run over or eaten by dogs.

I raced a 5k that turned out to be a marathon.

I trained months specifically for this particular big city 5k and was in mega PR shape, but I waited too long to register and it unexpectedly sold out (the RD still wouldn't let me in even though I knew him and I had won prize money the previous year). I was pissed and felt like it was all going to waste, but I found another prize money 5k race two hours away on the same day. So I woke up super early to drive to the race, but missed one of the freeway turns since it was 4am and dark, and got totally lost on the way trying to shortcut back, lost a bunch of time, and then was speeding so fast to make up time I skidded out of control and my car hit a pole. I was so mad. I had planned to get there an hour early and I had totally eaten up that time already. I decided to still try to make it. Finally I made it to the race and parked at 7:00am right as the 5k was supposed to start. I could hear the countdown and gun go off from a block away still, so I started sprinting from behind everybody. Weaved through the whole crowd and probably sprinted a 4:20 first mile to reach the leaders who were going surprisingly pedestrian pace. I was in such an adrenaline rage mode that I kept going and blew past them, as some relief passed over me from the craziness of trying to get there. Despite all that I was definitely going to win AND get my PR.

Except not...

After 3 miles I was not even close to the finish. I pulled up next to the lead cyclist to ask what was up, and found out that I was currently leading the MARATHON race and NOT the 5k. See, there was a 5k race and a marathon race, and the marathon was supposed to start earlier but got delayed. And then it all made sense why the leaders were going slow. And I realized I could have still made the start for the 5k. And now I was out leading a marathon.

So I figured oh what the hell, everything went to pure crap on this day, I'll just run the rest of this marathon as a hard long run day. So I ran the full 26.2, technically banditing it, and had to apologize to the leaders for being an idiot and probably messing with their race plans.

At the Lehigh Valley marathon I planned to run 4 miles (run the first 2, get in my car and drive 22 miles toward the finish, and then run the last 2). But I misjudged where to get back onto the course and had to run an extra half mile.

It sucked and I was completely drenched in sweat by the finish.

Haha. When you know the route, that entire Girdwood forest loop really does only take about 1.5 hours going easy. I always cross the hand tram loaded with a dog, which was fun for my old dog and too scary for some other dogs. A tip would be to grab the rope (which is actually at waist level) and pull by leaning back with your body weight using straight arms like tug-a-war, instead of using all arm power. Should be a lot easier that way.

My longest unintentional add on was when I was a freshman in hs and did a long run on the treadmill due to lightning. Anyway, I was watching a movie and got so attached to it that I looked down and saw that the mileage was 11.4. I was very surprised because it seemed like only a few minutes ago that it was at 6ish. I intended to do 9 miles but ended up doing 12. What a great milestone!

This is quickly becoming the most entertaining thread I've ever read on LetsRun. Fisky, Jeez, and nothing went right all have great stories. I feel like a real wuss for having no comparably exciting tales from nearly 40 years of running.

in 2015 A friend asked me to join a relay team for Achilles International, I was leg 1 (6 miles) i went out and ran the 10k and was smoked, i got to the relay exchange and no one was there, thinking leg 2 obviously slept in i ran to leg 3 and they weren't there either, it turned out a bunch of people backed out and no one let me know. At mile 20 (exchanging 5 or 6) i finally found an awaiting blind runner to exchange to and be guided, it made it all worth it as they were able to finish the race. I finished as well as if i stopped there i would of had to wait well over an hour for a bus. I didn't eat breakfast that morning and i only had coffee, but I finished. And yes it sucked BAD, my longest run all year was 12 miles.

4 turned into 16, and another time a 16 turned into 24.

Why did you wait 23 years to run over 10 miles?

Oh, man. I've got a pretty good one.

I was living in Bend, Oregon. Was back for the summer training for the fall cross season.

Didn't tell anyone what I was doing and drove up to Mt Bachelor. Was going to run around the base of it on the ski boundary trail. It was supposed to be I think 15 or 16 miles around the thing. I just had shoes and shorts on with nothing else with me.

Things went well for the first half. It was something that not many people did and the trail seemed to mostly come to an end about halfway around. I tried to follow it further and then I was completely off the trail with tree cover so thick that I couldn't see anything including the huge mountain right next to me. With trees and rugged lava flows all over it was impossible to even pick one direction and just go. I kept running and running and running....and running. I never could see the mountain or I would have just tried to go up and over the top or at least up it until I could see out and know where I was. I just wanted to hit a trail, dirt road, paved road...anything. I was wandering aimlessly, getting super tired and was incredibly hungry and dehydrated.

After 2hrs and 50min of probably averaging about 7:30 pace I finally hit a little single track trail. Had no clue which way was which so I picked a direction and ran. About 5 minutes later a mountain biker comes down the trail towards me. I stop him and tell him my story. He tells me I'm 16 to 18 miles from my car!! Explains to me where I was and I about died.

Then he told me his truck was parked at a snow park about six miles up the trail. He said he had a gallon of gatorade in the bed. Told me to make it to the truck and drink gatorade and he'd drive me to my car when he got back.

I ran as fast as possible to that gatorade! Slept under a tree for a hour. He drove me to my car.

What a experience. Never been more scared or exausted.

Don't any of you morans run with a cell phone?

1995 cell phones didn't work very well.