Or, “How My Two-Hour Run Turned into Over Three Hours Away from Home.”
I woke up and saw this for the weather forecast this morning:
I thought to myself, “Cloudy doesn’t sound too bad and I can handle Light Rain. The wind is a little much, but I’ll head out and see what it feels like.” I wore my compression socks, a skirt, a tank top, arm sleeves, gloves and a hat – for a normal 58 degrees this would have been way too much clothing, but I worried that the wind would make it seem colder.
Within the first two miles, the gloves came off and the sleeves were pushed down – there was barely any rain and I lucked into a cross-wind, so it felt nice and balmy out. Yay, the running gods were smiling on me and obviously, this run was going to be easy-peasy!
Or not. Right around three miles, I screeched to a halt. Hello, big unleashed dog! I looked around, but there was no owner in sight and now I realized that this poor baby looked scared. I took a step toward him and he bolted off across a major (three lanes in each direction) street. I watched him for a bit and he trotted with such purpose that it looked like he was heading home. I hoped he knew where he was going and I started running again. Well, not two minutes later, there he was at my side again. He was wearing a collar, but it didn’t have any tags on it. He didn’t stay with me very long before he darted into the street again, back to where he’d been before. At this point, I knew I needed to help him out, so I crossed over to the median to get him.
The median has a bit of a rise, and as I got closer to my new buddy, I finally understood why he’d been leading me out there. There was another dog, lying in the road, who’d obviously been hit. She was still alive, but couldn’t get up to move out of the street. Oh, man, the sight of her broke my heart.
Buddy and I ran across the street yet again to the parking lot of a grocery store where I desperately flagged down a really nice man with a cell phone. Why, oh why didn’t I have mine on me today? He called Animal Control and explained where we were. While he was on the phone, a car stopped near the dog in the street, so I ran back out to see if he was the owner of the two dogs. He wasn’t, but he took the injured dog into his truck and said he would take her home and help her out until Animal Control showed up. He gave me his phone number and I went back to Buddy, who was now cozied up in the nice man’s trunk (not by invitation, by the way. The nice man was putting his groceries away and Buddy hopped in)!
It took quite awhile for Animal Control to get there, and in the meantime at least three other people had stopped to help. The Animal Control officer easily gained Buddy’s trust and assured us all that she would do what she could to reunite both dogs with their owner. I really hope their story has a happy ending.
By the time I finally got on the road to finish my run, my legs had stiffened up and I was so cold that my fingers and toes were numb. I considered bagging it and going home, but I really wanted to finish what I started, so I kept going. The rain had been picking up while I was waiting for Animal Control, and within a few miles it was really coming down. I enjoy running in the rain, so this wasn’t a big deal. Ahhh, but when I turned around at the halfway point, I realized that I hadn’t been running with a crosswind so much as a tailwind and now that full 18 mph gust was in my face! I had to hold on to my hat while I ran and the wind whipped the headphones right out of my ears more than once. Needless to say, the second half of my run was significantly slower than the first half!
This pic doesn’t do justice to the soggy mess that I was upon my return home! I weighed my hat, gloves, clothes and fuel belt (without the water flasks) and it came out to over 2.5 pounds!
In the end, I managed 14.28 miles in three and a half hours. Ha, ha! Thankfully, only about 2 hours of that was actually spent running.
So how was your run today??
Kristin says
Awww!! Poor Doggies!!! Hope they are ok and find their owners!!! 🙁 Yeah On your run! I had to do a Xone 2 run today and NAILED it!! 🙂
track coach and adorable wife says
Way to be such an animal rescuer! Diego would be proud!
Caratunk Girl says
Wow, great job on the doggie rescue. Great run too! I hope all turned out OK in the end.
Patrick Mahoney says
That’s a great story, not great that a dog got hit, but great that you where there, nice guy with cellphone was there, etc. I like to read things like this.
That said, karma should have cut you a break on that wind.
Heather says
I thought this story was going to end with a dog bite. 🙂 Glad you were able to help the dogs AND finish your run.
Teamarcia says
My run was eerily similar to a point. Windy, rainy stray dog darting into traffic but no dog was hit thankfully. Oh and I only ran a fraction of what you did and my arm sleeves aren’t anywhere near as cool as your!
Hope the dog is ok!
Char says
A damsel rescuing two doggies in distress. Honestly, some people shouldn’t own dogs if they can’t keep them restrained. Good on you for helping out.
Laura says
Wow, good for you. I was all geared up for a long run today, but wasn’t ready to walk out the door until early afternoon. It had been drizzling all morning and I was cool with that. But that drizzle turned into a down pour and I knew I’d have rain to the face for half the run if I went. Anyway, I stayed in and was grumpy all afternoon as a result. Glad to hear no mention of the IT band! That’s a good sign!
Aimee says
Aww…poor things! That is so awesome that you stopped to help though. A lot of people would have just kept going. I hope they both got reunited with their owner.
Good job getting your run in after all of that! I can only imagine how cold you must have been being completely soaked!
ajh says
I hope those dogs are okay! What a sweetie to keep after you to help his friend! I have been very soaked before but never thought of weighing my stuff!
Alma says
I’m so sorry for those poor dogs! I Hope they found their owner 🙁
Pretty impressive that you are running long dist after your marathon, no? What’s next?
Anne says
How great that you stopped to help the dogs…and how nice that so many people were there to help out!
Great run btw 🙂
Laurie says
You’re so sweet to help out those dogs, hope it all turned out okay for them.
I love running in the rain, but the wind not so much. Good job powering through. Today is a rest day for me and I did just that. 🙂
Tortuga_Runner says
Love the sleeves. Can’t believe you got back out there for almost 15 miles after last week. You’re a rockstar!
Julie says
You are such a great person for stopping to help out! I am sure so many others would of just went on their way.
Good job with the run! Running in the rain and being soaked to the skin always makes things interesting and challenging:) Cute pictures!
Johann says
Good for you for helping out the dogs! As you say, lets hope their story ends happy. You are tough to complete a run in the rain after all of that.
TRI714 says
Nice read. Humanity is rare these days. Both my dogs are rescue dogs, and I wouldn’t have any other way. P.S good for sticking it out in the wet weather.
TK42ONE says
Way to get out there in the rain!
The Green Girl says
Wow, what a run. You’re so kind to help that dog like that.