My dog likes me more today than yesterday

So today I came home from work, changed and grabbed the dog for a quick run. It was a nice night (by this I mean it was dry and cold - not like running head first into a monsoon at the centre of a tornado like last week) and it was still light outside. The corresponding negative point to this is that there were people around. People who could actually see me. This is not good. However I have to get past feeling self-conscious if I'm really serious about running this 10k as it's an event that people literally line the streets to see. And it's time to face facts - I am not going to be gracefully cantering along, a slight sheen of sweat giving me a healthy glow. No. It's not going to be a pretty sight. There's going to be sweat, snot, wheezing and a lot of people watching. So it's time to suck it up (and possibly suck it in).

Tonight's training schedule saw me repeating the run from last Thursday when I felt I was going to be sick. I didn't feel like I was going to be sick tonight (apart from when I jogged past the guy with the can of Special Brew, who looked a bit like he was already being sick - thanks for that).

I was running in 3-minute blocks again, with breaks in between for walking. I started on the streets before arriving at Rubislaw Gardens - the park where the dog often gets an evening walk.



Part of him seemed delighted at my running, yet confused. It went roughly like this:

I start jogging, gradually picking up the pace as I go.
DOG: Hang on. What's up with this. She's actually moving faster than me. Wait...there's a twig there I want to eat...GODDAMMIT.. ok I'll show her what running is.

The dog catches me up and for a few moments we've got a good little rhythm going on.
DOG: This is great. This is really great. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened.

The end of the three minutes approaches.
DOG: Wait I was just getting going there. What's going on. Come on, pick up the pace!

I slow to a fast walk. Dog pulls and pulls and pulls at me to speed up again.


If you repeat this for roughly half an hour you have an idea of how it went. At the end I had one tired out dog. He usually tears up the stairs at a rate of knots after a walk whereas tonight he fell in step beside me.



I on the other hand walked up them like an old woman (I always do)