Running Together & Dodging Danger!!!

First off, I want to report on the progress of our training/coaching for the half-marathon: It's going very well! I'm really proud of Greg's determination and progress even 3 weeks in. He's even letting me do my "coach" thing and takes my advice on stretching, how hard to push it, when to rest...you know, just stuff that an experienced distance runner, like myself, has learned over the years:)

Last night, we did a 5 mile run at a fairly fast pace. I've learned that when Greg and I run together, its a challenge to run at a pace that we both are comfortable with. Sometimes, he seems to be practically jogging in place while other times, he's running like he stole something and I'm flailing along behind him, just trying to keep up. I know this is natural for runners and I'm the same way. I mean, everything can have an effect on the day's run - sleep, food choices, stress, etc...That's just how it goes.

It can be a good thing since we tend to challenge each other in this way, but every now and again, it's nice to maintain a good, consistant pace.

Last night, I was the Speedy Gonzalez between us. I might not have realized it, except that Greg kept exclaiming, "you're speeding up! You're speeding up!!"

I swore that I was running the same pace as I had been, but I dunno, I just felt really great and my fast(er) pace was working for me. I guess maybe we'll even out a little more when we make our way into the longer distance runs.

We have this neighborhood route that we enjoy. It gives us some gentle hills, interesting things to look at and so far hasn't gotten boring-because all runner's know that a boring course, too many times, will cause major burnout.

But last night, our course turned into Danger City! We've been running mostly in the evenings and while it's usually well enough lit, some of the roads are kind of dark and shadowy. There are also mature trees all over the neighborhood...most yards have at least one and these trees drop branches all the time. So on these dark roads, it's really important to keep your eyes peeled. We almost became the victims of a ginormous waist-high branch. Luckily, I saw it at the last minute and warned Greg. To put it delicately, Greg said that I probably saved our chances of having children together.

The darkness also caused other potential injuries. In addition to the branch incident, there was a construction area incident, garbage spillage on the sidewalk incident and several crazy, inattentive driver incidents.

And if all that weren't enough....a huge, scary and mean sounding german shepard (that I've never seen before) growled and jumped out of the bushes at us as we passed one house in particular. He was behind a fence, but he could have easily jumped over if he was determined to do so. I'm pretty sure I'll be avoiding that house from now on.

It seemed like someone or something was out to get us. But, in spite of all the deadly encounters, we arrived home in one piece! We felt like we deserved a prize for surviving so we had a nice steak dinner. Steak dinners have the ability to make everything ok again.