Starting today I had planned on keeping the pace conservative because I had done a 35 mile day yesterday and had a 33ish mile day today and I didn't want to over-do it. Well, that didn't really happen.
I started the day and felt good and had the feeling that the old legs needed a quiker run today. I picked it up a little bit and hit cruise control. I passed three hitch-hikers and they asked who I was running from. I stopped to talk to them for a minute and resumed the run. Next came the dogs.
I was running at a decent clip and these three dogs started barking at me from their yard. Luckily they were surrounded by barbed wire. They were going nuts and they stared running toward the fence and jumped right through a hole in the barbed wire. I slowed down a bit to hopefully show them that i wasnt threatening but was getting a little nervous. Plus I didnt want to book it because I wanted to keep an eye on these things. There weren't any cars around and these dogs were losing their minds. They got within about 15 feet of me and they stopped and made a fan formation between me and their house. One was snarling and moving slowly closer while I backed away a little quicker. The other two kept barking and were jumping around but still mad. When they were 4 feet away I just sort of stood in an uncomfortably strong position hoping they would be scared if I tried to act tough. Luckily, it worked. I must be some sort of dog whisperer or something because the other two dogs calmed down a bit and the one stopped moving toward me. Then, I simply backed away slowly and kept right on running. I don't expect that little tough guy trick to ever work again but I'm glad it worked this time.
For the rest of the day I kept a decent pace and felt strong. Then for whatever reason my right thigh siezed up and I got a monster cramp that forced me to walk. It was the wierdest thing but I figured something was out of balance so I drank some more water, ate a GU and kept running. It worked itself out and I was able to finish the 33.9 day in 4:54. These days, that's a decent time for me. Normally I only time the day so I have a record of when I should eat and things like that, but today, I used it to race time.
All in all, today was pretty eventful and ended well.
-- Patrick
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Great dog story. That sounds like Arizona to me. Ceasar Milan would be proud! Great that your back on the road, Hope that the mountains in the distance get smaller as you get near. Great video update, you can see for miles!
ReplyDeleteStay positive and strong!
Patrick,
ReplyDeleteThe dog encounter may not be your last. Squirting them with a water bottle is effective if you have enought water to spare. Another cheap but effective weapon is a small air horn. They hate those things. I have used both in cycling encounters with dogs over the years. Being diplomatic does not always work, even though the art of diplomacy is learning how to say "nice doggie" until you have a chance to pickup a rock.