Sunday, January 20, 2013

Chilly Chili Fun Run 01-19-2013

Saturday was the Chilly Chili Fun Run out at Lake Bloomington with the Lake Run Club folks.  This is not a timed race, but there is an organized water-stop and free food & beer afterward.  It's also a very low-key event and they have no objection to running with dogs, so it was just what the doctor ordered for me.  The weather was warm-ish (in the 40s) and not too windy so I was looking forward to another nice 4.37-mile run with Coty.  It was a stressful week and I needed an antidote.

After some debate about whether or not to wear my windbreaker, I got there right on time (I know, totally out of character, right?) and had enough time to get my registration turned in, get my gear on, and chat with some other runners and friends from the Heat Wave and Catch the Wave groups before our run.  I was really bugging out about running with just my tech tee on and the belt.  It feels... lumpy.  In the end it seemed smarter and more comfortable to skip the windbreaker with the temps so warm, but the belt is a whole new wrinkle that makes me more self-conscious.  It's a great tool, though, so I better get over it!

I'm never sure how well Coty will respond in a crowd like that, especially before she gets some exercise, but she was really well-behaved, even with several other dogs around who were acting pretty weird & nervous.  There was a beautiful German Shepherd who we've seen before, and who's not really crazy about other dogs, and a Doberman we've also met previously, who's REALLY not crazy about other dogs.  Then there was an ENORMOUS St. Bernard (is that redundant?  Aren't they all enormous?) who was completely new to me.  He ALSO didn't seem to be great with other dogs.  It's a miracle Coty was so calm before the run started.

I know, I know - enough about the dogs already... but there's a reason I bring it up.

So the run starts off, I stayed way at the back of the pack to make sure Coty didn't trip any of the other runners.  The German Shepherd & Dobie were fast and got ahead of us quickly, but it turns out the St. Bernard wasn't running - he was a spectator, standing to the left of the road and barking and lunging at everyone as they went by.  I was focused on just moving forward and calmly staying on our path (a good general rule I learned for controlling my dog, which I got from the Dog Whisperer years ago), but the St. Bernard lunged right toward Coty as we passed. Coty bolted to the right, directly into my right leg, which was moving forward (um, cuz I was running!) and I went down like a sack of potatoes.

I know I yelled out something on the way down, and I'm pretty sure there was at least one four-letter word, but whatever it was, I can assure you it was NOT "oops!"

An anonymous stranger helped me up.  I did a little physical inventory and assured I hadn't broken or sprained anything, and got going (again).  I had a little road rash on my knee and the palms of my hands but no mortal wounds.  I took a couple pics once I got home.





At this point I was way behind everyone, my adrenaline was pumping like crazy and I felt I needed to refocus and calm down a bit, so I decided to do a slow jog for a half-mile to test things out, then walk a half-mile to make sure I'm really well warmed up, then run as much as possible for the remainder, similar to last week.  That worked out pretty well, and since we were so far behind, I let Coty off her leash for about two miles along the route.

Right after the first mile-marker, when I really got going, a van drove past, stopped and rolled down the window as if to ask something.  I slowed down to talk to them and they said, "No, we were just stopping to look at the deer."  Huh?  What deer?  This area is at the edge of a LARGE field and there was a sizable herd of deer (maybe 10-12 of them) bounding through, a little more than a quarter of a mile away from us near the edge of the wooded area.  I stopped and soaked that in. So glad they pointed it out to me! Coty couldn't figure out what the hell was going on, they were too far away.

As we followed the road left about a half-mile after that, another deer!  This one all by himself, really big guy, running parallel to the road and towards / past us.  That one Coty saw... very exciting.

There was, in fact, a water stop complete with SPAM(r) soup and a whole lot of Peeps - you know those Easter marshmallow candies?  I skipped all of it, but hung out and chatted for a few minutes with the folks manning the station.  Wish I'd had my camera - there was a guy serving stew with this totally awesome Spam hat that my dad would love!

Along the way I also ran into Dan - I got to know him a little this year when he was organizing the We Care Twin Cities Half Marathon.  He's awesome, and he had run over 28 miles before starting the Fun Run today.  He is a MADMAN and an inspiration!!  Holy cow!!

Anyway, yadda-yadda-yadda I finished the run, nothing too exciting pace-wise... Felt good.

Here's the stats - total time 57 minutes, time running 54 minutes & change, and the splits.  Not bad, really, especially considering a walked about a half-mile of it.

I'm hoping they will post some pictures on the LRC web site so I can share some of the love.

I headed in for my free post-run beer but never made it.  I stopped to ask a group of folks to take a photo of me (after running to the car & rescuing my phone).  They did, and offered me a beer from the cooler in the back seat!  I ended up chatting with them for about 45 minutes and taking a couple more pics.

Not as lumpy as I thought!


Bill, Doug, Joe and Tracy (John not pictur
Not as lumpy as I thought with the belt & leash and everything... pictures are sometimes helpful in figuring out what "reality" is.










I gotta go to bed, so I guess I'll fill you in on my lovely evening out and today's weigh-in... tomorrow.

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, you are looking fantastic! You need an updated profile picture. Great job handling the dob debacle, a lot of people would have thrown in the towel right there. Way to go!!

    Oh, and of course I love the Garmin images :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Michelle! I do like to think I'm unstoppable!!

    ReplyDelete

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