TexasLindsey

6.25 miles around my neighborhood at 5am.  Weather= 71F, 76% humidity, 63 dew point, 20mph wind gusting to 30mph, dark.  Average pace=8:44/m.  

9:26 

8:42

8:32

8:22

8:04

8:10 (pace for final .4 mile that I ran with Ashley and Tim)

9:46 (pace for .85 mile run by myself on the way home)

Met Ashley and Tim at the corner.  Good workout today.   I didn't look at my watch until I got home.  I thought I was having a hard time breathing this morning but assumed it was the humidity.  Now I see that we were actually going faster than I thought.  The 8:04 mile was uphill against the wind.  We took a brief break once we got to the top.  I was out of breath.  I kept thinking my form was totally sloppy today but I think it was the wind.  I HATE the wind.  I think it's the worst of every kind of weather element.  I would rather run in 95 degrees than with 30mph wind.  

8 miles at 10:30am around my neighborhood.  Weather= 80F, 60% humidity, 63 dew point, 14mph wind gusting to 23mph, cloudy.  Average pace= 9:25/m.

Ok, so I'm running along in my 4th mile going up this gradual hill on a residential street when all of a sudden I notice two dogs in the front yard up ahead at this house on my left.  They are not with a human and they are not on lease.  They start running toward me.  The bigger one is a yellow dog about the size of a german shepherd.  The other one is black and brown medium sized.  I don't know what breed they are, maybe mutts.  Anyways, the bigger one runs right up to me and jumps on me.  When he does this, his head is at the level of my head.  He bites my arm.  My entire life flashes before my eyes.  Thankfully, he didn't bite hard... it was more like a playful bite.  BUT STILL... his mouth covered my entire forearm.  If he wanted to, this dog could really hurt me!  I don't know how to handle this.  I stopped running and tried to start talking sweet to him so he doesn't get mad.  He keeps jumping on me and "play" biting me.  At one point he had both paws on my shoulders and he's leaning in toward my neck.  I do an about face and avoid it.  I am freaking out.  I'm calling out for help but there is no one outside.  

I couldn't figure out if I should walk or run.  I was worried if I ran, he might try to tackle me.  My mind kept playing back this this video I saw a few months ago from a news helicopter of a police chase.  Suddenly, the car they were chasing stopped and a man jumped out.  He started running into this field.  The police let the dogs out.  Those dogs were so much faster than the man... they chased him down and tackled him easily.  The man tried to get back up and keep running but the dogs tackled him again and held him there until the police got there.  I was just imagining that happening to me!  

I walked for about 3 minutes.  The dogs would run off and come back jumping on me.  Finally, I started jogging really slow.  The dogs jogged beside me and I sped up.  They followed me for 2 miles!!  Actually, I started kinda enjoying their presence but I was worried that they'd follow me onto a busy street.  Eventually, I lead them into another neighborhood and they stopped at a sprinkler and I guess decided to stay there and not follow me anymore.  

I have encountered big dogs before on my run but I have never been jumped on and "play bitten" by one.  It was pretty frightening.  

Now, I'm wondering if I should get in my car and try to find them... maybe call animal control.  I don't want them to get run over.   

7 miles at 5am around the neighborhood.  Weather=72F, 76% humidity, 64 dew point, 10mph wind, dark.  

mile 1- 10:00

mile 2- 8:55

mile 3- 8:25

mile 4- 8:39

mile 5- 8:31

mile 6- 8:30

mile 7- 10:00

 Met up with Ashley and Tim.  We did this hilly loop twice and charged the hills.  I was averaging about 8:00 pace or faster for the hill portion and slowed down significantly for the downhills.  My legs were jello by the end of it.   

This was actually a race but I didn't run it as a race so I'm not counting it as a race report.  It was the Mayfest 10k.  There wasn't chip timing and there was at least 1,000 people... lots of little kids.  The race was on a sidewalk up and down the Trinity River.  At times running was single file... other times we had to weave through walkers.  It was very hot and sunny.  I was actually pretty miserable the entire race.  My time was like 50:02 when I crossed the finish line.  I think it was like 8:15/m.  I decided to not really race the thing once I realized how bad the conditions were... I didn't want to worry about running fast through that many people.  I did sprint the end and catch a bunch of people. 

4.2 miles at 6am.  Weather= cool, nice, sun just coming up.  Pace about 9:00/m.

I didn't run last week because I started work at my new job.  Everyone in the family got a throwing up virus, including me.  I couldn't call in sick to work though because it was my first week!  It sucked!  I was sick for 3 days.  Didn't get much sleep because my whole body hurt.  This weekend I slept alot trying to catch up.  

This is going to be a difficult transition.  So much less time. 

6.3 miles at 5am with Ashley and Tim.  Weather=70's, dark.  Average pace =9:00/m. 

We actually did a progressive run where we got faster mile by mile.  Fastest mile was 8:00/m. 

6.3 miles at 5am with Ashley and Tim.  WEather=70's, dark.  Average pace=9:09/m. Fastest mile 8:00 pace. 

4.5 miles at 5:15am with Ashley and Tim.  Weather=70's, dark.  Average pace=9:11/m.  Fastest mile was 8:08. 

Interesting week... been running in the morning then going home getting myself and kids ready for school/work.  I was worried that it would be hard to work and run... but it's actually been working out really well.  Actually, the most difficult morning this week was the day I decided to skip a run.  It seems that the days I run, I am much faster getting ready!

10 miles at 6:30am.  Weather=73F, 75% humidity, 63 dew point, 14mph wind, sunny. 

mile 1- 9:15

mile 2- 8:54

mile 3- 8:32

mile 4- 8:24

mile 5- 8:29

mile 6- 8:03

mile 7- 8:01

mile 8- 8:02

mile 9- 7:52

mile 10-8:02

Ran at Trinity River with Ashley, Tim and Clint.  It was humid today.  I'm not really complaining though, I'll take heat and humidity over cold and/or windy.  I was feeling fairly good today.  The effort was medium-hardish.  I could still talk.  Still, I can tell that I am pretty far off the fitness level that I was at this time last year...  oh well, at least I'm injury free!!  That ain't nothing!

I worked a full week this week and managed to run really consistently.  31 miles for the week.  If I keep this up and just add miles gradually, I might be back up to my prime speed by the fall in time the NYC marathon.  

3.6 miles at 6am around the neighborhood.  Weather=75F, sun coming up.  Average pace=9:15/m. 

Ashley and Tim couldn't meet me today so I didn't get out the door until 6am... only had time for a short run.