weekend running

Saturday I was at my in-laws. I headed out for 10 miles. I kept a 9:18 average pace with almost 1000 feet of climbing. It was partly cloudy and in the mid-sixties which was pretty much perfect. The route was mostly rolling hills on rural roads with no painted lines. The only traffic I ran into was a couple of cows who were out of their pasture. When they saw me running down the road, they scattered and jumped the fence back into their pasture.

They live in a rather rural area and unfortunately there are some poor dog owners. There is one dog in particular that has come after me several times, hackles up, growling and barking. My usual reaction to a dog that comes at me is to get as big as I can, puff out my chest, and run toward the dog loudly telling it to "get home". It works most of the time but this dog is a bit scary. She will turn around like she is going home, then sneak back around and try to cut me off. The last time I couldn't get away from her and I was yelling to get the owners attention and she actually turned on them. So after that I bought pepper spray. I will be heartbroken if I ever have to use it, but I'd rather keep myself in one piece. It was the first time I've run at my in-laws since my last run in with that dog, so I was carrying pepper spray with me for the first time. It actually didn't bother me to carry it, like I thought it would. And of course I didn't run into a single dog.

Today I ran 16 miles at a 9:20 pace with 1400 feet of climbing over the first 10 miles. The full route is a 20 mile figure 8 double loop. The first part is 12 miles on country roads, and the second part is 8 miles on a flat path. I was aiming for 20 miles today, but I ended it cutting it short. I had a misstep that tweaked my right leg a bit as I was coming down a big hill. Again, it was cloudy, in the low sixties, and a bit windy. I felt pretty good for most of the run, except for that last bit. My knee never really hurt, but I had a few twinges now and then. I iced it when I got home and took a few tylenol.

This coming week is a big one, since it only three weeks until the 50k. I have a 4 hour trail run planned on technical and hilly trails and a 26 mile long run that will be partly on pavement and partly on smooth trails. But I'm starting with a rest day tomorrow. Which, since I am still going strong on my running streak, means 2 or 3 really easy, slow miles on the park path in town.