Mangy Curs and Wild Dingos, or Highlights from My Morning Run

Just got back from my LONGEST. RUN. EVER. I did a 7-miler with no walk breaks in 1:15:40. Here are some highlights:

1. There's nothing like the smell of manure in the morning. Mmmm, country livin'.

2. Running on a new road beside some woods. Then hearing a strange noise over my loud music. Was it an involuntary grunt as I ran up the hill or something more sinister? I quickly scanned the woods for coyotes, wolves, and/or wild dingos. (We really do have coyotes around here. And probably wolves. Dingos, maybe not.)

3. Looking over my shoulder while running away from the aforementioned woods fully expecting to find something chasing me.

4. Playing chicken with several cars and trucks while trying to cross a major highway. "Here I go, no here comes a car. Jog in place. Ok, I'm going this time....... no, I'm not. More jogging in place. Wait, I can beat that one...... ok, I'll wait." Finally getting across. Alive.

5. Getting ready to turn down a side road, then seeing a mangy, mean-looking dog pacing back and forth behind a dinky chicken wire fence (I told you this was the country) looking at me menacingly. Turning back around and going the other way. I think it might have been a dingo.

6. Trying a gel for the first time: Hammer Gel Tropical fruit flavor. The flavor reminded me of that tropical fruit dessert baby food, but with more of a consistency of a mouthful of, well, snot. OR maybe snot mixed with syrup. I was left with sticky fingers and face. Not pleasant, but the 25 mg. of caffeine plus the sugar and carbs (is that redundant---sugar is a carb, I think, ah, who cares?) gave me a mental boost. I felt faster and more energetic, if nothing else.

7. Burning 841 calories according to my Garmin. That's insane!! (How cool is it to have a watch that tells me my mileage, pace, and even my calories burned? Very cool. Thanks again, Honey!)

8. Last, but not least, improving my 10K time from 1:13 to 1:06:26. Then feeling good enough to do .8 more.


It was a good day.