Damn nature, you scary!

I intended to write a post with this title after a recent experience in which a moth or something like it flew directly into my face, startling the crap out of me, a pheasant ran out of the bushes when I ran by, startling the crap out of me, and then flock (gaggle?) of Canadian geese started hover over me like they were plotting to dive bomb me, scaring the crap out of me. That was a lot of scariness for a 3 mile run.

Today I set out on a 4.5 mile run. My training plan called for 5.5, but I planned out a perfect 4.5 mile route, and I didn't run all week, so I figured I could cheat a bit. (THIS IS WHY I NEED A RUNNING PARTNER!) Most of the time I run through trails near my house, but because I wanted to be able to track my mileage, I decided to try a new route. I told D about my new route and said, "Just in case I don't come back because I got eaten by a dog, you will be able to find my body."  To which he said, "Oh yeah, there are dogs up there. They stayed on their property when I went by, but they are not on a leash, and they were growling and barking." Oh great! So I set off on my run and within 5 minutes I was confronted by my first off-leash growly, scary dog. My immediate reaction was to cross my arms so that it couldn't bite my hands. Surprisingly, it did not leave its property. I wonder if they have the magic invisible fence or if it is just really well trained? Then the next house also had an off-leash dog. It barked at me, but did not move either. My route started to take me in to more remote parts of town, and some people had what looked like bear-proof trash boxes. I mean, maybe they are just to keep out the racoons, but it looked like it was to prevent bears, which made me nervous. Also, there were lots of bushes, a few abandoned houses and barns, and a large cemetery. I really started to feel like I was in a horror movie. Good thing I never watch them because my imagination might have gotten the better of me. After a couple more scary dogs, I was back on Main Street, where I could relax again.

The route was also VERY hilly, something I normally try to avoid, but which is largely unavoidable here in Sackville. I think the adrenaline from my fear really helped me because I ran up almost all the hills with no problems. There was one huge one that got me though, and I had to walk to the top. Other than that, I was pretty pleased with my hill running abilities. Jenni wouldn't even recognize me any more!

Distance: 4.5 miles on pavement
Number of stars: 4
Lessons learned: Stick to the main streets when running around here.
Song that rocked my run: Hey Ya by Outkast

Oh, excuses, silly little things

I would like to say that I am getting better with the excuses. And I think I can say that. I am still making them, but they are less frequent and less convincing. On Monday I did not go to the beach as planned. It was raining, and I would have had to stand in the rain post-run to wait for D to get out of a meeting and then drive home all wet for 40 minutes. This sounded like a bad idea. So I didn't run on Monday. On Tuesday, I felt the whole, "I don't have time to run because I need to go to work" feeling, so I compromised. Instead of doing my 6 miles, I just did 3 and decided to postpone my long run until the weekend. So now I am a week behind. Hopefully being behind on my training plan will light a fire under my ass and keep me more motivated.

I was talking to a friend last night who is an avid runner, and we were discussing his fairly severe addiction to running. The thought of potentially not being able to run for a few weeks because of an injury made him rather distressed. I was almost jealous. I mean, I call myself a runaholic (at least on this blog), but I don't feel his intense desire to run. I feel like that makes my runaholism even more hardcore though. I mean, I am not that good at it, half the time I don't even like doing it or don't want to do it, but yet I keep doing it. (Maybe that should be our new tag line. "Running: We aren't good at it, we don't really like it, but we keep doing it.") That sounds like an addiction to me. That being said, I do long for running. I crave it when I am not doing it regularly. So why, then, do I make so many damn excuses not to do it. Hmmm, maybe I should become a psychologist so I can study this sort of ridiculous human behavior.

Back to my run on Tuesday, though. It was actually really good. I ran at the Waterfowl Park and although it was humid as hell, I still felt good while running. No wanting to die at all! I finally saw some fowl at the Waterfowl Park, but it was more scary than enjoyable. I was running along the trail when I came across a gaggle of about 12 Canadian geese that were blocking the path. As I approached them, I made lots of noise, clapping, yelling, and stomping my feet, but they just stared at me. When I got within about 10 feet of them, I realized that they weren't going anywhere, and I certainly was not going to run through the middle of a gaggle of geese. I have heard that Canadian geese can be vicious (or is that swans?) So, I just turned around and started running the other way. When I circled back around to that part of the trail about 30 minutes later, they were still there! In the exact same formation! Fortunately there is a bridge that crosses over through the middle of the park, so I was able to avoid them without having to run all the way back the way I came. Although if I had run back the way I came, I probably would have ended up running that 6 miles I was supposed to run. I guess the geese were trying to tell me something. Oh well.

Distance: 3.5 miles - mostly trails
Lessons learned: I really need a GPS watch to accurately track my run distances
Song that rocked my run: Rag and Bone by The White Stripes