Day Seventeen

Did two miles in 20.28. I wanted to run more like 4 or 5 miles, but that retrievery thing was loose in the middle of the village. I didn't want to risk a dog fight, so we turned around and ran back home. Tomorrow's another day.

The weather was wild today - windy, rainy in patches, sunny in places, a rainbow.

Day Sixteen

Didn't have a great run today. It was windy and rainy, so I frequently found myself getting pelted with tiny cold knives. We did 41.09, about 4 miles. Toby wasn't great either - when he wasn't pulling on the leash, he was lunging at cars. It was a struggle the whole way, but I kept going because each minute I racked up made me feel better about myself.

Toby seems to have a great memory. He remembers where the crazy watch dog lives, where we got attacked by the retrievery thing, where he saw the sheep. It gives an added challenge to the run as I have to react to his beahaviour.

Day Fifteen

Haven't had the best day as I gave into some premenstrual cravings and ate way too much crap. Then the nice day evaporated into a curtain of mist. So I just put in my obligatory one mile circling the house. Toby was good for eight and a half minutes, then he took off after a car. I'd prepared for that eventuality and put the leash on him straight away.

Tomorrow will be better. Today's total - 1 mile, 11.09.

Week Two Summary

Miles: 15
Miles Run in Dublin: 7
Time: 166 minutes
Rain: 2 runs
Wind: 2 runs
Beach view: 1 run
Averted Sheep Catastrophe: 1

Day Fourteen

Week two comes to a close and all I was about to manage was a mile. There was a bit of commotion at the house and I had to leave for the airport on the early side. Final time - 12 minutes exactly.

Day Thirteen

This morning, I ran to Killiney Beach and back. It's a run I've always enjoyed. Time was 32:32, distance was about 3 miles.

Day Twelve

I ran 21:37, two miles, along an old route I used to use. It was a fairly good run although a bit windy. No Toby, as he's in a kennel back in Cork.

Day Eleven

I was worried the streak might be broken today, but, thanks to Peter, it stayed alive. I didn't have time to run in the morning and then had to go straight to the airport after work. My flight got in aruond 8.30 and we got to the house at 9 or so. Peter very graciously went out with me and I ran around while he worked quickly. I got 14.20 done, so that was at least a mile. Whooo.

Day Ten

The rain came down in windy sheets all afternoon. By the time I'd cycled home, I was already soaked to the bone. I decided I didn't want to get too far from the house and that I should just do laps around the house. Toby could be off the leash so he could get extra exercise.

It was a good plan for the first 14 minutes. Then Toby decided to take off after a car. He came back pretty shortly, but it was frightening to me. I went into the house and got the leash so I could finish the run without having to worry about Toby becoming roadkill.

It was quite disappointing because he'd been having such fun racing around. And when he gets going, he gets that torpedo look that I really admire about his breed.

The final numbers - 20:33, about 2 miles.

Day Nine

25.05 today. Call it 2 miles. It was sunny. Toby saw sheep and went mad. He was nearly uncontrollable. Going to have to do something about that.

Not much to say today. I'm going to Dublin on Thursday night, so that's a red flag for this streak business.

Day Eight

The start of Week Two of my quest and it rained pretty much all night and most of the day. The weather started to break this afternoon and when Toby and I left the house, it was only windy and overcast. I told myself that we'd just run ten minutes and then turn back. At ten minutes, I told myself we'd just go through the village to the park and turn around. At the park I told myself that I just wanted to see how high the River Lee was. At the bridge. I decided that I didn't have enough of a sense of how swollen the river was and that I needed to run around the other side and up that country road a bit.

After a total of 20 minutes, I turned around and told myself that I only had to run another 4 minutes and then I could walk the rest of the way home. After 4 minutes, I told myself we'd might as well go for 30 minutes. And at 30 minutes, you guessed it, I decided we'd better just run the whole way home. I'd worked out a lot of my creakiness at that point.

It started raining about a half mile from home, a misty curtain of rain lashed by the wind that was nearly impossible to see through. We finished up in 40.17, so about 4 miles. Not bad for a day that I didn't really want to run at all.

Toby was okay - I'd probably say he'd averaged out to a grade of a C in the Running Partner department. He alternated pulling hard on the leash with running nicely. He also wanted to have a few words with the Crazed Watch Dog. I haven't mentionede CWD yet, but he's a dog who's chained up next to a house that's below road level. There's a wall that's about waist high for me next to the house. CWD works himself up into this twirling, barking, leaping frenzy when we run past and he manages, somehow to get his head above the top of the wall. I don't like CWD, but at least he's restrained.

Week One Summary

Miles Run: 22
Minutes Run: 294
Sunny Days: 2
Rainy Days: 1
Dog Fights: 1

Day Seven

Really wasn't feeling up to running today. I've always given myself Sundays off and it felt like a huge deal to put my running clothes on and get out the door. Every joint in my leg was cracking and whining.

So, I got dressed and got out the door before I had a chance to change my mind. I'd filled the Ipod with a few of Car Talk's Call of the Week and told myself I could turn back after 5 minutes if I really didn't feel that I could continue. A single mile each day is such a nice, low bar.

I ended up running 12 minutes out and returned in a total of 23:59. It was a pleasant, uneventful run and my legs felt fine. It was a bit chilly but I'd dressed to take that into consideration so I was comfortable.

Toby was perfect. A good end to my first week.

Day Six

This morning, I woke to blue skies, fluffy clouds, and a brilliant sun. Perfect running weather - the wind was calm and the temperature was cool but not cold.

Usually, I might take advantage of such nice weather of a Saturday and run 5 or 6 miles. But today, my legs were not really up to it. I ran a bit over 2 miles, 24:07 and it really was all I could manage, especially since my hamstrings were very tight. The first mile is always rough, but the second mile didn't feel all that much better. It wasn't until I was running downhill to the house that I started to feel good. (And that was probably just the psychological boost of knowing it would soon be over.)

Toby was a great companion today. It's so much nice to run with him on the weekends than during the week, after he's been cooped up most of the day.

We did have a run in with the retriever-y thing, who came all the way out of his yard barking viciously with his teeth bared. He probably got within a foot of us, as I was simultaneously speeding up whilst turning partially and yelling at him to go away. He did, eventually. On the way back, he just barked from the safety of his own yard.

I hate having to pass him (or at least having the possibility of passing him) on every run. But as I've mentioned before, the side roads are straight climbs up. The main road out of town is also less than ideal since it is very curvy and there's nearly no space for a runner, let alone a runner with a dog. I ran that way once and will never do it again. It was 20 minutes of feeling like I was just one blind corner away from becoming carnage on the roads.

Day Five

It was a beautiful evening and since it was a Friday, I decided to run long. We ran about 5 miles - 50:11. I was aiming for a full hour, but I was starting to get light-headed and could feel the precursors to blisters in the arch of my right foot.

Toby was good - he ran nicely and only pulled on the leash a few times. We ran into the village, which I was dreading but it's really the only option that doesn't involve a 30 degree or worse climb uphill. (Up gets me in the lungs and down gets me in the knees. You can the girl out of Chicago but you can't take the Chicago out of the girl. I'm just not built for hills.)

The retrievery thing was nowhere in sight and we got through town smoothly and then ran around behind the other side of the lake. It was a bit hillier than I expected, but they were more gentle slopes so I was able to handle them without walking. It's a good run.

On the way home, it was gorgeous near the lake - everything was pink and when I looked back, I could see the smoke from the chimneys over the village and then puffy clouds over the hills. It was one of those views that made any pain in the run worth it.

Day Four

It had rained most of the day, including a downpour about an hour before work ended. When it was time to go for our run, it was only grey and a bit windy, so I was hopeful that we'd have a good middle distance run.

Toby was behaving really well at first, although after the first car passed us, he did his lunging-speeding up thing. We headed into the village. When we passed the house where the barky-stalking retriever mix lives, the dog came out and ran toward us, barking, tail straight up. It was a very aggressive move, which is what he's done before, but he's always stopped short. This time, he attacked Toby.

There was a vicious little fight, during which I saw lots of bared teeth and fur flying. It's just like the cartoons - a big blur. I kept yelling at them to stop and was pulling Toby away. Eventually, I got Toby away and the other dog sort of slunk away. Toby barked at him as we made our escape, which would have made it appear like he was the Bad Dog. He was really just defending himself.

Away we went, up to the park and around a few laps. We crossed the little bridge in the park and my legs came out from underneath me, but I was able to catch myself on the railing. I didn't realise the wooden planks would be slick with moss and rain. Lesson learned.

On the way back through the village, I was dreading running past the retriever's house. As we approached, I saw a kid run across the street and hurry into a house. In my head, I could hear spaghetti western music and imagine tumbleweeds blowing aross the road. The dog was either gone or had learned his lesson since I didn't see him.

When we got to the point where the sidewalk ends, the traffic started to get a little busy. I made Toby stop in a narrow bit before a curve because I could hear cars coming. When we started back running, he did a weird thing where three or four times, he looked back and like he was going to chase his tail. I think he was wound up from the fight and the branches poking him made him feel like he was getting attacked again. I don't know.

We finished up uneventfully in 31.46, so it was another three miles, although they weren't very easy. At least the sun sort of came out near the end, even if it was simultaneously raining.

Day Three

Today we did about 3 miles - 30:10. We also walked a little, as I don't want to shock my poor little knees by too many consecutive days of heavy exercise.

We ran into the village, then out past where I work, around the little park and over the bridge. Shortly after the big house, we turned around. We went out 17:30, so had we run all the way back home, we would have made about 35 minutes.

There's a kid who walks his puppy sometimes at the same time I am running with Toby. We saw him today. I'm terrified that Toby will eat the puppy but the kid knows (as I've now told him twice) that Toby's not great with little dogs. I did a little reading and apparently this is something that happens a fair bit with German Shepherds, especially ones who aren't socialised well when they're, as we suspect was the case with Toby.

He also needs to be trained out of lunging at cars, as it freaks me out and isn't safe practise anyway. Other than the car issue and the little dogs issue and his fear of water and his overly keen interest in livestock, he's a great running partner.

The weather today was okay - overcast and a little chilly. The wind wasn't too bad but I'm afraid it might be bad tomorrow. But I'll worry about that then.

Day Two

Today was gorgeous - it felt like a proper spring day. I was suprised as I was expecting a repeat of yesterday since it rained most of the day. It brightened up in the afternoon though. For the run, the temperature was comfortable and the sun was shining.

We ran through the village and out past the big old/new house. In fact, we ran further out that road than we ever have. We had a few dog incidents on the way out. That scrappy looking retriever thing near the football ground came out of his yard and chased us, getting within about 2 feet, barking like a mad thing. He ran away when I yelled at him. Toby paid him no heed though.

Then, in the village, just past the post office, there was a small spaniel-y thing in front of a house. Toby wanted to have a meeting with it, so I dragged him across the street. Our legs collided and I nearly lost my balance. It was an accident though - not a sneaky herding dog trick.

We were fine for the rest of the trip out. We saw the usualy suspects, but they were all safely penned up in their yards. On the way back, there was a terrier loose in a yard and Toby wanted to meet him, so I put him on the other side of me, kept a short leash and picked up the pace. Crossing the street wasn't an option because that could have potentially put us on a collision course with the spaniel-y thing.

We've only had Toby for 2 and a half weeks and I really don't know how trustworthy he is with other dogs. He seems content to ignore big dogs but wants to challenge small dogs. He was neutered about a month before we got him, so any sort of hormone-induced territorial urges should be gone by now. But until I'm sure, I'm exercising extra caution.

So we continued our run back toward the house. Near the pink store, I could see that there was an older lady walking a spaniel-y thing, possibly the same spaniel-y thing, without a leash near the football grounds. Toby and I took a detour up the side road as I didn't fancy passing an old lady's unleashed small dog.

Our detour was about 4 minutes, which was enough time for them to turn around and just about clear the area. Toby was very interested in the spaniel, but there was enough distance to preserve order. (And the scruffy dog didn't come out to antagonize us.)

The run finished rather uneventfully. The end time was 50.25, so it was probably about 5 miles. We ran that long last Saturday, but this is the first time we've had such a long run on a "school night." I was aided by having a fresh episode of This American Life to listen to on my Shuffle. That and the weather made it a near-perfect run.

Day One (Monday, 12 February 2007)

Today Toby and I ran a bit over 2 miles. It was pissing rain, the cold, angry, pellet rain that smacks you in the face. Toby seems to be afraid of water and he veers away from puddles. He also needs to learn better leash manners - the first mile or so is always a contest of wills. I wish we had a sidewalk so I could give him a bit of lead, but with the traffic on the country roads, I can't do it.

We ran up to the the pink grocery store and then took a right. I was looking for the garage that someone had told me about since the car needs a service. I found it and we turned back shortly after that. About 11.30 minutes out and about the same back in. We finished in 23.09.

A good run, despite the rain.

Back Story

I was listening to some NPR show online this past weekend and they were talking about some guy who runs on the beach in Miami. I think he's run something like 8 miles, every day, for 8 years. Barefoot on the beach.

They interviewed someone from the US Running Streak Association and I'm afraid I've found a new obsession. To qualify to be part of the Running Streak club, you have to run at least one mile, under your own steam (not on a treadmill), every day for one calendar year.

Since we just adopted a high-energy German Shepherd called Toby, I've been trying to run with him most days of the week. Wanting to achieve the hallowed status of Running Streak club member might be just the incentive I need to keep me going out, day after day, with the dog.

This is my diary of my attempt. I think this is a doable goal - a mile is just about 10 minutes for me. We'll see what the next year brings.