Today’s run was fantastic!  Last Friday’s run wasn’t all that great so I enjoyed the run today.  I was scheduled for 4 miles but because things were just clicking along, I ran 8.11 instead.  I probably would have run longer but it was time to get ready for church.

The happenings on the run today for the most part were fun and one was just flat out weird.

Seeing as I was crunched for time with having to get ready for church, I kept the run close to the house ~ that way, I didn’t find myself so far away that I couldn’t get home in 20 minutes or so.

Running close to the house meant that I had to run past the house on Subdivision Road.  You remember Subdivision… the house on the corner, with the little dog that either tries to bite me or wants to run with me.  I’m never quite sure what mood that dog will be in, so I proceed with caution.

When I went past that house the first time, the little dog wasn’t out. On my way back, there it was.  I tried to tip toe past the house without being noticed.  FAIL.  Rats.

The little dog was jumping on me and running around my feet in circles…all in the middle of the road.  This really is a cute dog and I would hate to step on it and hurt it, or worse, see it get hit by a car!

I heard a car in the garage of that house on the corner.  The people there were getting ready to back out of the garage and go to church.  I jumped over the ditch (little dog following me) and walked over to their garage.  I just stood there until they backed out all the way and saw me standing there (I know, borderline creepy)…little dog still jumping up and down.

The man got out of the car and walked over to me.  He’s a nice guy.  This past summer he had tried running for a little while, so we had put in a few miles together.  He saw the dog.  He said something not very nice about the dog.

Apparently, the little dog belongs to his MIL.  He’s not a fan of either one.  HA!  He held onto the pesky pooch while I jumped the ditch again and started on down the street.  About a quarter mile later, a red sedan zooms by me!

This red car literally ZOOMED by me and then abruptly stopped!  It stopped right in the middle of the road!

I thought this was odd.

When I got up along side the car, the door opened and a man got out.  Hmmm…

I stopped (paused my Garmin, thank you) and asked the man (because I couldn’t think of anything else to say), “Why are you stopped in the middle of the road?”

He walked around to the trunk of his car and pulled out a shovel before he replied.

“I’m going to steal some dirt out of this here ditch.”

Oh!

I wished him a good morning, re-started my Garmin and kept on running.  I mean, how do you respond to somebody blatantly stealing dirt?

After those two encounters, I decided to keep the rest of my run on my street.  I only had time for two more miles anyway.

I zipped down my street and past my house.

“Bow-wow-wow!”

It was Paxton.

“Jingle!  Jingle!  Jingle!”  I heard the jingle bell on Kali’s collar.

Kali was coming, too!

Paxton and Kali had decided to join me on the last bit of my run.  This would be fun!

Paxton, being his pudgy puppy self, could only keep up for .30 mile.  After that distance, he decided that I could finish up on my own.  Kali (the kitty) hung in there for almost a half mile!  Go Kali!

We leave for my 50K this coming Friday.  The race begins 6:00 am on Saturday.  Two more training runs and then I am as trained as I am going to be for this race!

Let’s do this!!!