Thursday 30/08

Type: Steady/Hilly
Time: 40mins
Distance: 4.71miles
Rating: 8

19mins - 2.2miles - 8.40m/m
20mins - 4.7miles - 8.50m/m
The first half of this run was did with a fairly steady pace, which I was quite enjoying. Then however I decided to turn around and do an route I used to do.
That was a bad idea. I'm not sure if I was too tired (I am really tired these days) or if the route was just TOO hilly, but it made me so tired. I wanted to go back to bed when I got in. I vow I won't do that route again, not without having eaten first, or without water at least. I'll need to take a few days rest before Sunday - try and eat well and get a lot of sleep in. I'm out the night before the half so I will really need to make sure it doesn't interfere. I want to be at my peak on Sunday.

As well as this, today something really bad happened. I was running down a forest path and there was a woman walking a fair bit ahead of her dog. The dog stopped and watched me then when I passed, came running alongside me, which was fine...until it then ran behind me. It got tangled in my feet and tripped me up really badly. I had such a struggle to stop myself falling flat on my face, it gave me such a fright. I didn't hurt myself thankfully, but the woman heard my loud footsteps as I scrambled along the ground trying to keep upright and asked if the dog had gotten in my way. I told her that I had tripped over it, and she proceeded to pet the dog and say "good boy, there there" as if the dog was more traumatised than I was! Ok, dogs are stupid, I can accept that, but owners should always know where their stupid dogs are and make sure they're not getting in people's ways. If that had been a little kid running and the dog had tripped up the little kid, I'm sure the woman would have been a lot more sympathetic.

Don't get me wrong, most people make sure their dogs are out of your way when you run along - that's so polite and appreciated, they always get a wave and a thank you. But for the less "aware" dog owners, it is a little bit annoying. Anyway, that's my rant for today. I feel strangely peaceful now...