The Dog Days of Running

In baseball the long days of summer are called "The Dog Days" as they wear out the players and are still far from completing the end of the season and the World Series.

In some ways these last few weeks have been my own dog days of running to train for the Los Angeles Marathon. These days are tiring with an injured knee not helping.

I tested my knee this morning on a longer run for the LA Roadrunners schedule. It was only seven hours after the intervals; so, it would be an interesting challenge. The schedule also called for hills in that 45 minutes.

So, I set out on the old favorite, M1, and started out pretty well. I went up and down some hilly streets as well as Pico and crossed into Los Angeles and then back and headed for the Santa Monica Airport.

I was really happy as I was keeping the 10:30 goal pace and feeling well. The breeze felt nice too, even when it was a headwind. It was a good run and I felt like progress was being made, even if the knee still was not perfect.

As I got on a street close to home, things changed ... the Dog Days became the Dog Pre-Dawn as a large dog came charging, barking, and showing teeth. This was not in the Roadrunners manual for how to end a run. I got "big" and yelled it and slowly moved back, which seemed to help at least with the dog part of the problem. Unfortunately, it did not help as I stumbled over the decorative little concrete decoration border around a yard, falling on my back and rolling my left ankle. Somehow, while still snarling away, the dog did not come and add to the fun and slowly backed away as I got up and ready. I started to walk backwards towards home and thankfully the dog trotted the opposite direction.

I walked a little, remembered ... ooh, this does not count, turn off the Garmin (see, Roadrunner training), and assessed the battle damage. A few houses later I began to lightly jog again and made it home.

So far, the damage seems to be a little soreness at the very tip of the bottom of my backbone, a bruised and swollen, though hopefully not sprained left ankle, and wounded pride. At least there was no audience to enjoy the festivities.

I have iced the ankle along with my right knee, which luckily escaped the fun, and it seems to be o.k., though tender. Hopefully, I can give it a go Saturday. I am lucky this all happened this morning and I have the chance to rest my legs a bit for the rest of the day and Friday.

Still, it was not my ideal run.

40:34 minutes of running, curtailed due to dog
10:38 pace, affected by dog and not stopping watch
3.81 miles

So, hopefully, no serious harm done ... the show must go on!