10 mile run

Today, I completed 10 miles in my long 13.1 miles, half-marathon training. I'm almost done and THANKFUL! I'm looking forward to the race and also looking forward to having Saturday and Sunday afternoons to rest, run errands and spend time with my family.

I experienced a fear today that I haven't felt in a long time. The fear of dogs. When I was younger (6th grade or so), I was attacked by a dog. It was a "lassie" dog. She had been frightened by fireworks going off in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I never saw her. My brother, Jason and I were getting on our bikes after playing tennis in our neighborhood. She attacked me, knocking me over on top of my bike, and biting my lower right calf. All the while she was dragging her owner behind her while on a leash. It was a memory, I'll never forget. The teenage girls rushed me to their home, just 2 houses down. Their parents called my mom to come take me to a minor emergency clinic. While waiting for my mom to come, my brother and I endured the sound of the dog getting beat by the dad in their laundry room. It was horrible.

That night I had to sleep on the floor beside my parent's bed. It seemed like every hour I was bleeding out of the bandage and had to get a new one. No stitches were given for puncture wounds back then. The dog had just bit me and held on, not pulled or tugged my skin, leaving tears to sew. I remember spending days if not weeks, (Mom will know) on the couch watching tv. All of this while on my summer break.

So fast forward to today. I am very fearful of dogs, normally I can suppress my fear knowing it's a friend's dog but strange dogs scare me greatly. Today, I passed by a woman while running on the Green Way. She saw me coming a good few hundred feet behind her and moved over far to the grass. As I approached, I slowed down to a walk because I could see the dogs were acting skittish. Sure enough, they charged me, barking and snapping their teeth, and growling while pulling their owner along. She just yelled at them to stop. They pushed me off in to the mud and got so close to me that I felt I should just take off running before getting bit. Guess what? No apologies were given only yells at her dogs. She never spoke a word to me.

Now, about 15 minutes later, I come across a couple with their two BIG dogs acting skittish too. Just learning from the last lesson, I head as far over to the side as possible. They see me and stop, then I stop and try to figure out how to proceed. The dogs stood their ground. The couple start walking one behind the other but when I pass, the same things happen AGAIN! Charging, barking, growling, and NO APOLOGIES!!!!! I'm on a public walking/running green way through the city crying and fighting emotional break down because of unruly dogs.

Jason says to start bringing some pepper spray. I feel like packing some heat! But in all honesty, I'll probably never run through Knoxville's Green Ways again. I'm sticking to the streets where I can pass a good 20 feet away from them. I'm done, D-O-N-E with dogs. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt done.