Some Peeves

Im trying to stay positive but since Spring is trying desparately to Spring, some of my worst peeves have been cropping up :( I wish there were some way to raise awareness!  :(

I had a lovely long warmish run yesterday that was marred at various moments by inconsiderate other human beings. Considering we have to share this world, it would be super nice everyone did something to make it more enjoyable for the other humans.

1. I ran up Harmony Ridge yesterday which is challenging but quite beautiful.  I couldnt look up from my feet....someone is doing a very poor job of hauling cattle manure to be spread on fields.  I am a "country girl" and I do not object to the spreading of manure, the smell, the sight, the idea.  I think farms smell awesome.  But while running on a road where I am apparently only entitled to a super small section of the roadside to run on, it sucks when that little sections is coated in cow crap.  I ran dodging some piles that were a foot high and 3 feet around.  I mean, whoever was doing it was doing a REALLY bad job.  I discovered how far away hew as doing a bad job when I ran around and back home, he was going almost all the way to town and leaving gifts behind the whole way.  When Im driving tthrough it and then parking in my garage, I will be completely irritated.

2. I ran up Harmony Ridge where apparently every dog runs free. And they run onto the road. with lots of teeth.  5 dogs, no word of a lie, 5 dogs felt threatening.  And twice TWICE people driving by stopped to tell me It's Ok, that dog is friendly and wont hurt me or follow me. 
Ok Ive had some trouble in the past keeping my dogs in their yard all the time, since my kids let them out without me knowing and Im not supervising :*( I hope this problem has passed.  But I still think I should be able to run on a road without feeling like some dog is going to chew my leg off.  And since my episode with the Pitbull, Im a whole lot sensitive, meaning I freaking jump out in front of traffic everytime a snarling barking dog come flying out of a driveway and meets  me on the road. 5 times yesterday!  I only saw 2 dogs actually restrained!  
and when people say really stupid stuff like It's OK, he/she is really friendly....I'm not sure if they realise that that doesnt make it ok and isnt what I need to hear right now.  I don't CARE if your dog is friendly....I do NOT want it chasing me out into traffic, and I do NOT want to stop and pet it.  and make friends with it.  and reward it for bad behavior. Get your dog off the road! 

3. My road rage has few limits but drivers driving right through stop signs seems to be an epidemic lately.  And on my long run I was nearly hit by 2 of these drivers who didnt stop as they went into an intersection and through a stop sign.  Its a good thing I was looking since they obviously were not.  One woman looked slightly apologetic when she saw me as she went by, but the man actually seemed annoyed and rolled his eyes at me.  I also had to stop and wait while a car full of teens backed out of a driveway without stopping to look and missed me completely.  I was close enough that I could have touched the front of the car but they didnt even hesitate at the driveway end, just backed right out.

I need to stop at those 3 lest I completely ruin my experience yesterday lol.

The run was good :) The kids went with their grandmother for the day, hockey is over, soccer was cancelled, so I had all day to do the run.  I did have plans to attend a United by Running organized run late in the afternoon so I needed to be done by then.  I headed out around lunch time which never seems wise to me, I always get very hungry despite my late breakfast of oatmeal; but I did that.
I ran up Harmony Ridge first, rather than running flat and then up the other way.  It is about 7 km to the top of the hill and then back down for a few km. Much steeper.

This loop was 21 km more or less.  At the bottom of that big hill I stopped to use the washrooms at the rink and Scott was still there after his lunch time hockey game; they were having a drink after and I sat and chatted for a bit, drank half his beer with my Cliffs bar, and the continued on.  It was warm enough so I left  my coat for him to take home.  the run through town and back to home was pretty uneventful.

I rested for an hour or so, had some soup, and then got dressed (so much laundry) and picked up a friend to go to the United By Running run.  We were late so they were leaving as we got there, literally ran over us lol we parked and got out and caught the pack; but got held up at some traffic stops as we were in the back of the pack SIGH Its ok it wasnt a race but I swore no WALKERS were going to beat me ;) I have not a competative bone in my body.

Most of the group turned around at the 5 km marker; we continued on as it was nice and sunny and the run was mostly trail by the Cobequid Bay, which was really nice at that time of day :)

You would think with that hill in the middle it was steep but really it was not.  Pretty flat run!  another 9.5 km finished to end the split run day with 30.5 km. 

After the run there were door prize draws. I was disappointed not to win a free race registration which would have really made my day lol but near the end when the good stuff was gone I did win a big left over medal that I can hang on my christmas tree ;) there was a pretty big crowd there. We didnt have to wait long for the prize draws since we were like the last ones in.   most folks ran the 5 k as they were prt of a start to run club or were maybe not out for the linger run; but it was such a nice day why not? :)

Long Run Success, even if it was split into 2 runs :)