Can you here my footsteps

Thank God the weekend is here!
Another running story to tell, but first the dogs!
This "running loose" dog sh*t has to stop. It is becoming very frustrating to run on side roads with all the non-chained dogs roaming around. This is the 4th time I have had to change a route due to "DOGS!" Today as I turned a corner a pack of 3 came running out of a yard. They were a good distance off, so it was easy just to turn around. My frustration is boiling over. . (Can you say leash law?) I love animals and I may have to start running with some kind of dog repellant. That sucks - Do you hear me Farley ?
Now to the run:
I had a great run today(Of course after the dogs)- an exciting hilly 5.2 mile run. A gorgeous day - sunny, 72 degrees, low humidity, a faint touch of wind. I was at about the 5K mark when I turned a corner and seen a runner in front of me. He was coming off a side road to the main road about a 1/4 mile ahead. My 5K split was 31:46, so around a 10:15 pace. I got the silly idea that I was going to try and pass him in the final 2.1 miles. hehe.. I picked up my pace to around (9:45) and noticed the gap getting larger. Sped up to (9:30) and the gap evened. He looked back at me with about a mile and a half to go and I think he noticed that I was keeping pace. He sped up, then I sped up. LOL! A quick glance at my watch and we were @ (9:00) pace. "It was on like donkey kong!"

Little by little I was gaining on him. With a mile to go my pace was @ 7:45, but he was still 1/4 mile ahead. My lungs were burning, my blood was pumping and it felt good! The rush of adrenaline "kicked in" and I was in the midst of a runners high. My watched " beeped" to signal the last half - mile and I was within 50 feet of him. As I was passing him, he waved and a big grin was on his face. I gave out this sad, breathless "Howdy!" We ran for another minute or so, and I could still hear his footstrikes behind me. We finally finished and he was only 10 feet behind. He patted me on the back, and said ,"good run, huh?" as we both bent over in agony. We talked for a bit and he admitted that he was trying to keep me from passing him. haha. He said, "Do you know how fast we ran that last mile in? 7 mins!" My reply, "Wow, really. No way!" Not quite a 7 min/ mile..
Anyway, here are the stats: m1 - 10:25, m2 - 10:20, m3 - 9:59,m4 - 8:37, m5 - 7:39!, 0.2 - 1:22. I have another 2 mile PR Old : 17:19 , NEW 16:16! 5.2 miles in 48:18 (9:17 avg) WOOHOO!!
Moral of the story: If you want to break your short mileage PR's , hire a dog named Farley to chase you or hire a man to pace you.

Farley you son of a

Has anyone besides me been chased by a dog during their run? I don't mean like barked at threw a fence. I mean literally chased!
Story( bare with me - I never tell anything quickly)
I waited until the evening to run beacuse it was cooler, temp 76 deg, beautiful evening. Started out running at a good pace. My achilles was very sore this evening - I noticed it after about 1/4 mile. My intentions were not to run fast tonight. Easy run that turned into "FREAKIN" strides/intervals/speedwork. Feeling good around mile 2, when I heard a dog barking. Looked over and about 200 feet away was a 60 lb boxer charging and barking. Have you ever seen the muscles in these dogs?
The owner is screaming, "FARLEY!! FARLEY!!" at the top of his lungs. Then the guy yells, " He will bite you!!" My pace slowed a bit when I heard a dog barking, but after he said, " He will bite you!" I ran with all my ****** life! Usain Bolt has nothing on me. LOL! Have you ever tried to run sideways fast while looking behind you? I figured out that the dog wasn't use to running fast for longer than 300 feet. He got within 10 feet of me before, he gave up the chase. You SOB!!!! I did notice that the owner had a look of relief on his face, as he "beat" the dog back into submission. Yikes! My 4 miler turned out, m1 - 10:15, m2 - 10:01, m3 - 8:03 --- m3(1/2mile split) was 3:31!!!(that would be 7:02 pace ,yeah baby!), m4 - 9:16. Since I was already doing speed work, I decided to keep going. LOL!
I have a new 2 mile PR - 17:19(8:39 pace)!!

Dark Scary clouds from heaven and dead dog

Finally got a day off or two. Didn't get out to run until 11 am due to me "catching up" on some sleep. I started out with a humid, bright, sunny day, and then this big, black scary cloud blocked the sky. At first, I was afraid it was going to rain or a huge lightning bolt was going to shoot out from that ugly cloud, but instead it turned out to be a blessing. It blocked the hot rays of the sun, and made my run much more enjoyable. Since I didn't get much running in earlier in the week, this weekend will be "catchup."
I decide to do 2 - 5K runs. One at an easy pace and one at tempo pace. First was in 33:15(10:43 pace) with 2min recovery and second was 29:55(9:40 pace.) I finished with another recovery run of 0.8 miles. With runs, recoveries, and 1/4 mile walking I managed 7 1/4 miles in 1:16:30. Very happy with this run since I did my tempo at the backend instead of the more manageable frontend. Much more challenging. As I blog this, I am a little sore.
This morning I searched all over for my amphipod. I asked my youngest son if he knew where it was and he hesitantly told me that the dog had it a couple days ago. My son brought it to me and I inspected it. The dog ripped the top off and put bite marks all throughout it.

Well, that sucks! So needless to say, I had to stash water on my running route today. I guess that I'll have to buy a new one.

Did That Dog In

We finally got some well needed rain yesterday, so I decided to take the day off from running after running 3 in a row.

I am going to try and take my camera with me on the occasional run so you all can get an idea of where I live and my surroundings. This morning I took the dog for a hike/run and snapped some photos and shot a few 5-10 sec videos.

I ran 2 miles in about 30 minutes, which included the occasional stoppage for "snapshots" and the dog stopping to sniff every other tree. One of the things that I find exciting is the fact that my dog can't keep up with me!! After the intial 1/2 mile sprint by the dog, he had to stop frequently. Few photos:

Can you tell that I am breathing harder on the last video?