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!