Running scared!

Let's do this with bullet points since there is couple things I would like to write about.

- on Monday I was chased again by those two exact same dogs that chased me on Sunday. (It is no surprise of course since I took the same route). Unfortunately this time they both chased me on both my way out and back. Did I mention that I do not like dogs?!? (Sorry to all you dog lovers, I had a bad experience from my childhood and am just too scared of dogs and thus hate them)

- I ran 50+ minutes on a road on Monday. This was the longest hard surface run since the early 2010! I run on a road only when it is totally unevitable and I always limit it to 40min max. However with the current situation I need to risk it. It was horrible though. I was scared to death and was expecting my ITB to blow up any time. It is good however, even one day after. Hope it stays that way.

- I ran a hill workout on Monday (as part of those 50min). 6x90sec. Yes, I found a hill in Illinois. It is only 4min run from my place. The last time I did a hill workout was in fall 2010 in Yosemite park when I ran to El Capitan to beat bears and sunset. I ran some hills in Hannover but I am not sure whether that could be considered hill workout. I loved every second of that hill workout yesterday. It was the only time that I forgot about my ITB and just ran and enjoyed (in a slightly sadist way).

- I went biking today to the Rend Lake and met one guy who stopped me and asked me whether I want to join him for his ride. He said that he moved here last year in November and that he rode pretty often and I was the first cyclist he had met! So he had to stop me because he was desperate for a biking buddy. This place is weird. The roads about the Rend Lake are smooth newly paved roads with low traffic and there are also bike paths, however there are no joggers, bikers or hikers there. He said that even in summer there is noone out there!

- The ride kicked my butt. Big time! And I do not mean that it was comfortably hard. It was HARD. I was able to stay with him (in drops, glued on his wheel, suffering like a dog) on flats or downhills but on even the slightest incline I got dropped as a bad habbit even though I stoot up and mashed the pedals, quads on fire. It was pathetic. Sure his quads were like my waist but he was an older guy, almost 30 years older than me (why do I always have these older guys for biking buddies? Where are all hot young guys?!?). He told me that he raced off-road motorbikes and that involves standing on pedals for 2-3 hours so therefore his legs are strong. It was pure suffering and there were times I considered asking him to slow down because I was going to blow up and then pedal home at 7 mph. I can blame it on that hill workout, not having bike pedals and shoes but only cages, eating only 2 apples and 1 peach and drinking only one cup of water the whole day, but those would be just stupid excuses. I truly need to stop living on donuts and start doing something with myself.

- I had a great workout in a pool today. I did a workout that I did last October (2x4x200 @ 3:20 desc 1-2) and I nailed it. Sure, I cannot move my arms now but I nailed it so I am happy about it.