Zoe and Leonard save the day....

I was out on a 14 miler yesterday and doing pretty well... I had decided that I didn't want to double my 7 mile loop, so I stopped off at the neighborhood elementary school and did three miles on their track to add some miles and prevent a double loop. As I came off the track and headed down a side street, I heard the sound of paws coming up behind me. I know most of the dogs on my path and get along with them. Even the little chihuahua that likes to scare the fool out of me by sneaking up on my heel and then barking... I wasn't used to any dogs in this area, so I looked back to see what kind of trouble I was in. Well, I saw a ferocious pekingese coming up behind me.

The first thought I had was that I must really be a sorry runner if a dog with 3 inch legs is going catch up with me. After I got over the deflation of that reality, I started laughing thinking about what would be going through people minds when they saw a 6'3" guy running with a pekingese keeping up stride for stride. After about a 1/4 of a mile I started to get worried that the dog wasn't going to go home. So, I stopped and picked it up and looked at the tag. Fortunately it had an address on it, and a name. I carried my new friend Zoe back to her house and found a crowd of kids out looking for her. All that took my mind off the run and kind of re-energized me.

Well, at about mile 12.5 I came across another runner that I had seen at the beginning of my run. He and I were now going the same direction. He was very encouraging and stayed with me for about 1/2 mile before he turned off towards his house. Leonard left me with some encouraging words and I waddled along until I hit the 14 mile mark. It ended up being a very pleasant run and I hope that next week's 18 miler will be the breakthrough I need for my confidence. Zoe sure seemed to think I was a good runner, now I just need to convince myself!

Long run tomorrow....

I have a 16 miler scheduled for tomorrow and a 5 miler today. I'm not sure I will get the 5 miler in because we were at football all morning and now we have stuff to do around the house. I haven't missed any runs so far, so we will see if I squeeze it in or not.

The 16 miler is going to be tough. I still don't have my route down yet, so I need to figure that out. I hope to get up early and run it before church tomorrow. It is hard to believe we under 10 weeks until the marathon. 10 weeks sounds like a long time, but when I realize I have runs of 16, 18, 20, 20 and 22 coming up it seems like time is flying by.

Well, I need to go charge up the iPod... I don't want to run 2.5 hours without music!

The fear sets in....

This week I top out with a 16 miler and I am already nervous about that distance. I died on an 18 miler on my last marathon training attempt in January. I hope I don't suffer the same fate as I start to extend my runs this time.

The heat and humidity are much worse now than they were the last time, so that gives me extra concern. I am going to carry plenty of fluids with me and carry some cash to buy a refill along the way.

Another issue I have is that I want to go early before it heats up too much, but I hate running at 5:00 in the morning, especially when I am likely to go on a path that takes me a long way from home. I may have to suck it up and just double up on my normal loops and add in some miles on the track at our local elementary school. I can put some gatorade out on the path if I am staying close to home too.

This week is pretty light leading up to the run, so I hope to be fully energized on Sunday. We'll see!

Moving forward... for the most part.

Running has been going well. I got my 13 miler in on Sunday, but was chaffed badly by my compression shirt and iPod strap. I wasn't expecting that since I have never had a chaffing issue with a compression shirt before.

I see a trip to the store for some Body Glide in my near future. This week brings several moderate runs to the table. I did bail out on my eight miler yesterday after only 4.5 miles. I was pressed for time and just didn't feel very comfortable. I hope to make the mileage up over the weekend.

It figures that today would be my day off and it was 69 degrees at 8:30.... Oh well, I think we have an overall cooling trend coming our way. I am not wishing away summer, but I will take a break for the heat while I run every day!

Robert the Dog Rescuer?

I was out for my 'easy' four miler today at lunch, kicking myself in the tail for not rolling out of bed and running before daylight, when I come across a pitiful looking old poodle in the middle of the road dragging her leash. She could hardly walk and her tongue was hanging out as she panted. The runner in me said 'Keep going, her owner is around.' The rest of me said 'This could be bad, there may be an old person keeled over somewhere.'

The rest of me won out and I ran over to the dog and picked her up. I read her tag, but didn't recognize the name and I didn't have my cell phone with me to call the number. I did know someone that lived near there and stopped by to find out if they knew the owner. Sure enough they did and I carried my new friend back to her home. It turns out her owner is legally blind and had not noticed the dog wandered off as they were sitting in the carport. I left the dog and went on my way.

It was only later that I realized how funny I probably looked in my running clothes bounding around with an old poodle in my arms, pink leash in tow. I'm sure people driving by thought I was the one that was lost!

Hmmm....

Ok, now I find out there was a break in going on in the neighborhood I was running through on Sunday morning about the same time I saw I guy running in jeans... Could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.

I got a nice, cool seven miles in today. Well, I was wishing it was cool. I got home and looked up the temp to put it in my log and the heat index was 102... No wonder I ran slow and sweated like a hog on the 4th of July! I've got to force myself to hydrate some on these day runs. I'm glad I have a fuel belt.

It is time for me to start thinking about fueling on long runs as I stretch out to 13 miles this week. I need to research what they provide on the course in the marathon. I also might just carry some fig newtons or jelly beans with me along with my fluids. I still need to find a nice 4 mile route. I haven't really been happy with any I have used as they all tend to really be 5 mile routes, so I end up walking a mile or running over.... Yes, I could run for 2 miles and turn around and run home. That is the logical thing to do. I don't like doing that though and I can't really give you a good reason why either!

On to another week....

Got my 10 miler in yesterday. Lee ran the first five with me and that was nice. I'm glad we went out early, but it was still plenty humid. This week I stretch my long run out to 13 miles. I can't decide whether to come up with some new route or just double up on my normal route that has 5, 6 and 7 mile versions.

I saw a couple of interesting things out yesterday morning, not the least of which was a guy running in a t-shirt and jeans. I am pretty sure he was running 'from' something, but he did say 'good morning' to us as he passed. It did creep me out a little, but I was probably just being paranoid.

I am enjoying the off day today, but I don't really feel the need for it. I think that is a good sign. It is funny how on Saturday my five miles felt like it would never end, but on Sunday I ran 10 and felt great the rest of the day....