Seen On My Run: Crazy Dog Lady

I was fortunate enough to have MLK Day as a holiday this year and took full advantage of it by running, walking and then walking some more.  The weather could not have been more perfect for a day spent outside.  I lollygagged around the house for a few hours before finally dragging my butt out to the park to get in some miles.  I assumed it would be chilly, but it was already mid 60′s by the time I got there.  Who would have thought that a shirt and capris could be over dressed for a mid day run in January?

I am ever so slowly building my base back up and trying to prevent re-injury.  I am not a patient person so this has been kind of hard for me.  In my head I have super strong legs that can run for hours and hours without feeling any pain.  Sadly my legs aren’t yet on board with that and I have had to limit my ambitions.  I did not set a time goal, or a pace goal, or even a distance goal.  I planned to do an out and back, so I decided to run until I started to feel tired, then I’d run back.  

In addition to the lingering IT band pain, my piriformis is starting to give me some trouble, actually, it’s been bothering me for a while now. As long as I don’t push my pace and stay away from steep hills I’m mostly ok. So basically I should take some rest days but I can’t seem to do that.  Running is my crack and I’m addicted.  I know I should stop, but I need to get sweaty and I need to pound the pavement.

My run Monday was made up of six glorious miles, and I spent each step appreciating my ability to put one foot in front of the other.  

I also spent a good deal of time avoiding the crazy dog lady.  I first encountered her a little big before the midway point on my run.  She had SIX dogs walking with her, two of which were off leashes.  I can’t even begin to understand the logic of having that many dogs on a heavy trafficked trail, add in the two without leashes and it was not a pretty site.  

I managed to navigate around crazy dog lady with only one dog attempting to bite my shoes.  While I was stopped at a water fountain drinking my weight in water, dog lady went by.  I ran around them again, lots of barking and lots of straining on the leashes to get at my shoes.  The two without leashes were strangely quiet. You know what isn’t fun? Running by dogs who want to eat your shoes and knowing that in less than ten minutes you have to run back by them.

So that was exciting.   It was kind of like a game of tag and the dogs were “it.”  Only I didn’t want to play.  I never really did like tag.  Freeze was more my style. And red rover. 

I ran into a friend just as I was getting back to my car and we walked and chatted for a few miles before I realized the day was wasting and I had to spend some time with the kiddos.  I did some more walking to the playground with the T-man.  It was a fantastic day.  I think every weekend needs to be three days, and Texas needs to always be 72* and sunny.

Did you have Monday off or were you forced to slave away for The Man? Also, please tell me, who walks six dogs at one time? Who are these people?

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