Hit the dirt running

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, I meet W, and her two dogs, Wil and T'bo (of dogsitting fame) at the local park to run. It has been working out really well for me. No thinking, no contemplating, no 'do I really want to run this morning?' kvetching. It is a standing appointment and I show up without thinking about it. With the warmer weather, mornings are definitely the only time I can run with Cosmo. Then I try to do a long, slow run on Saturdays with Bridg.

So, I am happy with myself in the 'discipline' department. Yea!

Yesterday, we meet up. She is running sans dogs - her husb fed them too late. Me, Cosmo and W - the only ones hitting the trail that a.m. The trail we run is 4 miles out and back with mileage markers every .25 miles. Lately we run out 1.5, turn around and head back for a total of 3. We hope to add a quarter mile each week - upping our mileage nice and easy for her dogs who haven't been running for years like Momo.

We set off - at a pretty fast pace (for us. Remember, everything is relative). We were able to step it up without her dogs. First .25 down, under 11 m/m pace (remember? I said everything is relative! :-)). Second quarter mile, cruising right along, feeling good, we hear someone warn us from behind. It is always appreciated when someone makes it known in advance they are going to pass you. Unfortunately, in our area, very few people's vocabularies include the phrase, 'on your left'. But this old feller, well, he was one of the good ones. He did the right thing. I slow down, shorten Cosmo's lead, start moving over to the right and I feel it. I feel the little bobble of my right ankle as it catches the edge of the pavement. I have slowed down a lot though, so I think I might be able to recover. I take about 4 steps and I start to go down. Left knee, left hand, boom. Where are all my right appendages? I don't know. Next to hit are the boobs. In essence, I swan-dived into the dirt. I hit them puppies hard. The old guy on the bike in horrified. W is horrified. Cosmo is bored - he has seen this too many times. Nothing is hurt, I reassure bike man that he is not at fault and I am fine. W, Cos and I walk a little bit (with me grabbing and rubbing my chest and trying to get the dirt out of my sports bra) and then we continue running. W informs me that everytime I fall, it makes her relive the time I took a header off my bike and almost rolled down a cliff because she stopped short in front of me.

Cosmo decides to poop at the .75 mile mark.

We run out to our turn around and head back. Still keeping a good pace (remember the relative thing?) for us.

On the way back, around the corner comes this loose, mid-sized black mixed breed, followed shortly by a man. I HATE OFF-LEASH DOGS. WE HAVE A LEASH LAW IN OUR COMMUNITY AND OUR PARKS.

Me: Would you leash your dog, please. My guy was attacked once by an off leash dog and he is scared of loose dogs now.

(I have decided I have no problem lying to people who don't leash their dogs. I will tell them mine are dog aggressive, fearful, whatever.)

Him: Oh, she wouldn't hurt a fly.

Visual: To make my lie seem truthful, I am making a big show of keeping myself between Cosmo and the loose dog, who is now circling us. Of course, all Cosmo wants to do is sniff loose dog's butt. I don't know why he won't play act and go along with the scenario!

Internal thought process: You bastard! I tell you my dog is scared and you could care less. WTF?

Me: He doesn't know your dog won't hurt him!

Man (now walking past us): *mutter, mutter, mutter*

Me: What did you say? There is a leash law, you know!

Man: *mutter, mutter, mutter*

As we start running again, W makes the point to me that the paved trail we run is only about 6-7 feet wide and is very curvy. Some cyclist or rollerblader could easily come around a curve and have an accident with that dog running loose on the trail. The whole incident ticked me off. Hey, there is nothing I would love more than to be able to walk my dogs off leash, have them running around me, having a great time. I understand why people want to do it. But it isn't responsible or safe. And it isn't legal around here.

Happily, despite all the drama, we end the run wiped out. I estimated (with the fall, poop stop and jerky, off leash man) we did just under an 11 m/m, probably about 10:52 m/m. Fast for us, but maintainable. We both thought it was hard but we didn't feel 100% stressed. Cosmo didn't think much about it one way or the other. For a change, it was nice to go out and push a little bit. We tend to run slower with her dogs because they, well, honestly, they are slow greyhounds. LOL Nah, not really. They are just new to the running thing and still getting acclimatized.