Andrew Schrauben

I took the day off from work to give myself a longer holiday weekend, and decided to do my weekly long run today instead of the usual Saturday or Sunday. I planned for about 12 miles but ran out of time before Amanda and I had to pick up a couple dogs from the vet for Vicky's Pet Connection, so my run only lasted 9 miles.

Both Haven and Beacon joined me for the run and they got pretty tired, but they tired me out, too - it's hard to manage two dogs using two leashes while running! At least on the trails they were able to run off-leash. In order to give them access to water, I detoured down an old two-track that's strewn with giant downed trees that I had to climb over rather than "steeple-chase" over. This is important because once the dogs and I left the river, I got stung by a hornet on the elbow! OWWW!! They kept chasing me so I flat out sprinted back up the two-track, somehow jumping and clambering over the massive tree obstacles.

My run ended when I met up with Amanda, who was walking our foster dog Ella. Amanda left just five minutes after I did and had trekked 5 miles already, and then we walked the last 2 miles home together. While walking home, wouldn't you know that Haven got stung by a yellow jacket! Right on her front leg - I had to use my foot to knock it off her. She was clearly in pain when it stung her, but the little trooper didn't complain once we resumed walking.

A 9-mile run isn't terribly long, but it helped that I had the 2-mile walk at the end of it. My big 50-mile race is just two weeks away, so next week's long run might be just a long hike to ensure that my legs are rested up for the long day of running. Just a few more miles of training until I (hopefully!) add a cool 50 to my training log!