The Pros and Cons of Cottage Country Training

Highway 35 Scenery

I was fortunate enough to spend this past long weekend up at our friends cottage on Raven Lake.  It's just outside of Dorset off Highway 35.   Beautiful area and very hilly.   Going for a run at the cottage is a regular occurrence and I have done more than my fair share of training on those roads.  While I was out on Sunday, my mind started to wander (which is not unusual) and I started to think about what I love and hate about running up north.

The Pros:

* Very little traffic
* Great scenery
* Long stretches of uninterrupted road
* Lots of discreet places for an emergency bathroom break
* Challenging hills
* Being able to jump into the lake right after a run
* Enjoying a great meal and post run beverage on a dock by the water, followed by a nap on the dock.

The Cons:

* Very little traffic (if something happens to you and you don't have your phone, you could be waiting a while)
* Long stretches of uninterrupted road (can be mind-numbingly boring no matter how beautiful)
* Being a mobile snack machine for whatever bugs happen to be out that day.
* Looking like a complete spaz because you're swatting the air around you while you're running to keep the bugs from buzzing around in your ears.
* Challenging hills (tough to deal with if you're on the verge of bonking)
* Having to drive 3 + hours in horrible traffic to get there.