Today's 12 miler should've been a piece of cake since it was 4 miles shorter than last week's long run. I do have a hard time getting out of the house when it's cold outside and I've developed the habit of waiting until it warms up to head out. This might make it worse. Instead, as I plod about the house all I can think of is having to do this run. It's not even that far of a run, but it's 30 degrees out.
I cleaned up the house a bit and then went out back to split wood. I recently procured some small rounds of oak and hadn't split them yet. Oak is a much harder wood than fir so it's a little harder to split, especially since they were the rejected pieces from the guys at work. They had large knots in them or were otherwise shaped strangely as to make them harder to split. I've got no shame, so I took them home.
So after cleaning the house (a bit, not done yet) I set out to split some of that oak. It went ok. Until I hit a piece in a bad spot and it flew off the splitting round and on to my foot. I was wearing boots but that really only put a small strip of leather between my foot and the flying round of oak. Lovely. 12 miles due today and I may have broken my foot. I gathered up my wood and hobbled into the house.
Upon inspection it was not broken but merely bruised. I figured I better get on with this ridiculous running thing. Due to some stomach issues that I (along with other long distance runners) tend to develop as my runs get longer, I planned out a 5 mile route that ended back at my house where I would refill my water bottle, use the restroom and injest some GU.
Off I went, aching foot and all. The cold hurt my nose and lips, even though it had warmed up to 36 degrees. It wasn't long before I came across a loose dog. Great. Part pit bull of course. It ran across the street towards me so I stopped running, put my hand out and yelled "No!" He stopped in his tracks and watched me. I tried to keep walking but it made him bounce around towards me again. He seemed fairly playful but I didn't want to find out the hard way that that was just how he acted before he killed his prey. I kept yelling "No!" and "Go home!" to no avail. I was getting frustrated. Thankfully it wasn't long before he was distracted by another dog and I snuck off.
I continued my run and turned around at the corner I knew to be 2.5 miles from my house. I thought about how training for a marathon is a lot like other things in life. You don't get to just stop because it gets tough. I tried to pretend that made me feel better and that I was getting tougher.
A car approaching from behind me blared their horn and swerved across their lane and into the other one towards me, to prove a point I suppose. What a jerk! Who does that?! I was on the opposite side of the road, going against traffic so I could see cars coming toward me. I purposefully picked a quieter road today with less traffic. There was no one else on the road at the time and the person had no right to be angry that I was out there on the road too. We have free range cattle, horses, dogs, tractors and deer in the road all the time. Do you mean to tell me that one fairly small girl running on the opposite side of the road is ruining your day? Why don't you get your lazy, angry ass out of your car and run with me? Probably because you can't. I'm not hurting anybody and I'm bettering myself. Just because you don't have the drive and dedication to be out there making something of yourself does not give you the right to be mean to those who do.
I continued on and only muttered to myself. I've been angrily honked at before on my bike. I don't get it. We live in an area where one car might pass by every 3-5 minutes. Do you mean to tell me that it's that big of a deal for runners and cyclists to be on the road? Geezo.
I made it home without too much else going on, went to the bathroom, ate a GU and refilled my water bottle. I took off for another 7 miles. Again, just a few minutes down the road, I came across another unleashed dog. A big one. Bigger than the last one. I crossed the street to the other side and calmly walked away, watching the dog the whole time. He got up and came after me. Of course. Again, I held my hand out (like stop) and shouted "No!" I saw a car coming and decided if he came running at me at this point he'd probably be hit by a car and I wouldn't get attacked. I used this time to keep walking away until I got to where I didn't think he'd come after me, then started running again.
People. Leash your damn dogs. Whether or not this dog was going to lunge at my throat with teeth baring remains to be seen. I could totally sue you if he did attack me. But even if he was friendly, he just ran out into the road to chase me which could've gotten him killed. Some people do dumb things. If you've got an animal like that it is your responsibility to keep him safe and others he might go after.
I managed to make it home without being attacked or run over. As I stretched, my mind drifted to what else I was supposed to accomplish today and a voice in my head responded, Carrie, you don't have to do anything.
That's more like it.
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