The run of torment...

I'm back!

Before I departed on the trip that lasted an eternity I took a large chunk of my Saturday and ran all the way across my town.

I had contemplated hitting up the gym for my long run but the much improved weather and slightly better road conditions changed my mind for me. I gave some thought about which direction I should travel in to avoid the worst of the hills. Bottom line, there was not a single route that I could design that was anything close to flat. **damnit!**

Throwing caution to the wind I headed out the door, fueled by pretzels and bravery/insanity. It was by far the warmest day that we had seen in quite some time, I think the thermometer might have hit a scorching 42 degrees at the height of the day. Very decent running weather in my opinion.... The first 5 miles were tolerable, if you call climbing Mt Everest while dodging huge puddles and periodically loosing your footing in sink holes tolerable... I knew that 10 miles was an ambitious goal under the conditions that I was dealing with but my basic feeling was that it could be done with a minimum of swearing and agony.

I wouldn't say I was completely correct!

As hilly as the first 5 miles were they were basically flat compared to the final 5. By mile 7.5 or so I was being troubled by my pesky hip flexor- it is really becoming a terrible nuisance to me! I was covered in mud and my feet were completely soaked and I could feel them becoming more pruney with each passing step. By mile 8.5 I was starting to drop the eff bomb on the regular due to the ever increasing incline, my drenched feet and the traffic that kept almost running me off the fricking road.

My sneaky rage spiral came to a head when with at mile 9 that STUPID local dog (who I have had encounters with before) came bursting out of the woodd scaring the bejeebus out of me and refusing (as usual) to go home or allow capture. That dog is my nemesis and I have extreme dislike for the fact that he is allowed to run rampant on the town with no collar or tags. We were well over a mile from his home and I had zero interest in backtracking that far to tell his negligent parents that their naughty yellow child was about to become road kill. I got a large number of dirty looks and unhelpful comments from passing cars as they advised me to put my dog on a leash. No s**t yo, he isn't my dog!

After laboring, sweating and cursing violently while hopping on one leg for the final stretch of my run (with the dog yapping and circling me in a most annoying manner) I finally made it home. Thinking that I would catch the idiot canine, throw it in my car and return him to his home was good in theory but not in practice. Fully wound up he refused capture and continued to prance around like a chicken on crack. I felt murderous... So I called animal control and had them take him away. (now, before you all get wound up know that this is a small town and the dog catcher knew who he was and returned him home. I knew that would happen. I'm not an asshat I swear!)

I must say that for a variety of reasons that was hands DOWN the hardest run I have ever done. If I was gearing up for my first half I think I might be a touch freaked out to be honest! However- 10 miles on my roads in much more impossible then 13.1 on relatively flat surfaces.

Anyway! I survived. The dog survived (miraculously!) and after a couple days off I'm ready to test out the old legs again. We'll see how it goes...