Getting Lost in Purgatory

Dear People,

Yesterday I went running and got totally lost.

I told my grandparents that I would be back before dark and I headed out onto the streets of San Marcos. I headed for a series trails about a mile and half away from the house. I found them and looked at the map. I figured that the area called Purgatory Trails could't be that big. I ran on Dante Path for a mile or so before turning onto Beatrice Trail. It started to get dark and I began to get a little worried. We all know what happens to young women who run about on dark trails with no one around.

I started to panic and run faster. I was hoping to meet up with the road again at any turn. I didn't. Paradiso Way kept winding round and round, but I still wasn't finding the road. The sunset was beautiful but I couldn't enjoy it because I knew that my life was in danger. I felt like was on Inferno Lane rather than Paradiso.

Finally, I saw some houses above a rocky ridge. I felt this was my only option to get onto a road that my phone GPS would recognise. I scrambled down from the trail and into a dry creekbed that was overgrown with weeds and thistles. I waded through the brush. On the other side I started to climb the rock face. At the top I found myself in behind the backyards of some mansions. I had to traipse through the tall crabgrass and more thistles to get to the freshly manicured lawns. I crept along the backyard to the driveway. There was a man in his pyjamas taking out the trash. I knew that I would startle him as I snuck up behind him covered in mud in my dark clothes. He did start but I tried to reassure him that I was just a lost runner. HE seemed calmed and I limped off to find the road.

I finally found it. My GPS found me. And I kept running. It was getting darker. Deer began to congregate in the yards of the mansions I was running past. I met an old couple walking together. I ran faster.

Im the end I had to call my grandfather to come and pick me up. I would have had to run along a dark highway with no sidewalks in order to get home. My grandpa was goodnatured about coming to get me.

That was my adventure. I ended up running for about 7 miles, which is a lot for me.