I see that I may be overestimating the hills of this course. Looking again at the map, it seems that 90% of the course is a straight shot between Leonard Hall and the Courthouse. I'll probably stick to my original plan of five Van Buren hills this Thursday and six the following Thursday, and maybe a fast 400 workout the week after that. After all, I'd like to take my new T5 Racers for a spin before the race.

On Saturday, for the second time ever, I was the victim of an unprovoked canine attack during my run! Not long after making a U-turn on a seven mile run through Golden Beach, I was passing by a cluster of small, low-income houses when I looked up and saw a fat and ferocious baying BEAGLE bounding towards me with a savage look in its eyes. Even though I was running in the middle of street, far from anyone's yard, the dog charged right to me and started jumping up at me, not so much barking but SNARLING. I yelled at it and raised a defensive knee --- and then to my utter shock it sunk its sharp little fangs into my left thigh! A car then passed by, and although I feel guilty about it now, I found myself saying then "please hit the dog, please hit the dog." It didn't. After escaping the beagle's "territory", I lifted up my shorts I saw that the its teeth had indeed raggedly broken my skin (not to the point of bleeding, though). Hurrying home as best I could (as I said this was an an out-and-back run, and the incident took place at least three miles away from my home), I thoroughly washed the wound with soap and high-pressured water, then applied Neosporin-type ointment. I'm not too worried about infection since I got a tetanus shot and rabies vaccine after the last dog attack (back junior year at Ryken), and this mutt was wearing a collar. Rick, you might not have liked this story, and I want you to know that it didn't leave me prejudiced against beagles or dogs in general. I know that there are bad dogs out there just like there are bad people --- and bad people usually beget bad dogs. But I'll probably avoid that street for awhile.

That dog was very aggressive, so I can't help but wonder whether or not it's been reported before. If it attacked me like that, who's to say it hasn't done the same to passing children or elderly people?

Saturday, March 22, 2008 NCR Trail, 7:15 am Cloudy… Temperature in the upper 30s, wind chill near freezing. I did not sleep well in the hours leading up to this run. I did not land in bed until 1am due to being out at a bar for the birthday of a friend of Val's, and my alarm was set for 6am. I didn't want to stray from the planned six mile run, and I also had my first yoga session later in the morning. There was just no way around getting up at 6am. After breakfast and tending to Molly, I arrived at the NCR Trail parking lot. One other guy was there when I arrived. He assumed that I was a member of the Baltimore Road Runners Club. Even after I corrected him on this, he still insisted we run out together. At this point, I realized I just locked my keys in my car (a side effect of five hours of sleep), and the guy offered to drive me back to my apartment when we finished. I was pretty much trapped into running with him. The pace was much faster than I wanted, being that this guy was looking to break 65 minutes in a 10 miler next weekend. We were going at a bit over 8:00 for the first 1.5 miles, but I slowed it down to 8:30 - 8:40 by the time we reached the three mile mark. Not too much later, to my delight, this guy (I forget his name) stated that he wanted to do two miles at his 10 mile race pace. That meant I got to turn around and do the second half of the run at my own pace. We ran about 200 meters past the three mile marker, which was done in 26:10 (8:22!!!). I finished the round trip (roughly 6.25) in 53:28, meaning the second half was run at roughly an 8:48 pace. That's about as fast as I think I should be going on these long runs... the Garmin may prove otherwise next weekend. Overall, I felt kind of sluggish on this run, more so than a month back when I ran 5.5 miles at an 8:08 pace. I think that's due to the lack of sleep I got the night before. I felt much better on the second half of the run. As for the guy who I ran with... honestly, I'm not sure if I've ever met a nicer guy who irritated me so much. He was very knowledgable about running, but it seemed as though he was trying to fill me in on everything he knew about running in the short time we spent on the trail. Then, on the ride back to my apartment, it seemed as though he was giving a lecture on his eating habits. He also was sure to point out the "errors" of my eating habits. For instance, I learned that he thought energy gels and recovery drinks were dangerous and overrated (Nope), that runners with MY level of mileage (he had zero clue as to how many miles I run) should not be eating carbs (this was just confusing), and that runners shouldn't eat bananas because of sugar levels! He noted that he has long arguments with his sister-in-law, a licenced nutritionist, about whether or not bananas are good for you. I'll have to side with the person whose entire livlihood concerns food on this debate. Fortunately, after dropping me off, he didn't suggest that we run together in the near future.

Anyone who denies the merits of carbs and bananas in running --- especially distance running --- is a quack. You immersion into the world of yoga has almost inspired me to do something similar. Almost. What was the gender ratio like in the class (obviously the instructor was male)? If they ever ask you what the world record for the 5k is at that store, tell them 12:37.

I was just curious how similar the gender ratio would be to that aerobics class I took at CSM years ago. Sounds roughly the same! Minus the instructor being male, of course.

Yesterday I did my first real speed work since December, and it burned! Although the run was essentially just a 5.5-mile maintenance run around my neighborhood, it contained 6 fartlek speed bursts interspersed unevenly between miles 1.5 and 4. I think the average distance was 150 yards and, according to the Forerunner, my maximum pace was about 4:25/mi (it also said that my maximum pace during the marathon was roughly 4:40/mi, but that could only have been in the last few yards of the race). I'm going to ice heavily tonight, and then tomorrow it will be time for three swift 800s at Ryken.