Running with a wild child.

The Wild Child.   I ran with a wild child today. The usual sweet, docile, stay-by-my-side Buttercup thought she knew what in the world was going on and was all over the place. She chased squirrels, chased vehicles, tripped me at least on 4 separate occasions. Seriously? This was a stressful run. I just wanted to get my miles in and dash my way home so she won't piss the neighbors off, who in turn, might be angry with me for being that "crazy Chinese girl with that crazy dog."

(On our way home with Wild Child in the front) 

The Route.    I came home after work and had to drop off some drill bits at Keith's office. Instead of driving there, I thought, I will run to his office. It is about 3 miles away from where we live, so I can run there and make a loop back. So, I delivered the drill bits on foot, and plopped a sweaty kiss on Keith's cheeks before I made my way home. There were 2 slopey-slopes. Going down makes the knees a little uncomfortable. Going up makes me breathe and gasp harder. I take the gasping for air because I will still get to run. When I hit the 4th mile, I just walked and unwind a little more.

The Gear.   I had to wear something with pockets to put those drill bits and their respectiveful cases. My fleece pockets were filled with my cellphone and drill bits. Quite a paunchy bulge. I ran with my new mp3 player today - a SanDisk Sansa clip. I like the clippy part because I don't need to get an arm band for it. I had an iPod (actually I have 4 iPods) and the arm band always slides down that it aggravates the heck out of me. With this Sansa clip, I just clipped it onto the strap of my Garmin Forerunner. Neato.

Just Data.

Mile 1=11:06.44
Mile 2=11:29.21
Mile 3=12:11.83
Mile 4=11:40.10
Total: 4 miles in 46:30 minutes. Average pace = 11:36min/mile.
I was surprised I made decent time despite all these crazies that were going on.

The Plan. Gonna hit a 3-mile either tomorrow or Friday.
Gonna figure a way to leash Buttercup up during our runs from now on. I am not running with her without a leash (and the thought of that saddens me. I feel happy when I see her run free. But I know I made some drivers and a passerby upset.)