Water bottle Knuckleduster!

So today's run was the first since Tuesday and I was dreading it as I knew I had had a break between runs which wasn't planned. It also followed a very busy week and knowing I had to run home and continue working on the weekend which is not good…

Anyway I got out realtively early and decided to run first thing after breakfast. This was my first mistake as I learnt this morning that I am unable to run after food in the morning. I thought last weeks phlegm gate was caused by the Sugar Puffs I had, but today was even worse.

I started the warm up walk and immediately became congested and fighting for breath. It is by far the coldest morning I have ever run and this does not help my chest one bit. I did wear a compression top and my jacket to try to counteract this but it didn't help. The problem stems from my nose getting blocked then me not being able to breath through it and and the all stuff moving to my chest. Not great!

I persevered, coughing up as much phlegm as I could but I hit a new running low about 12 minutes in when I projectile vomited my breakfast all over the grass verge 😦 I tried to compose myself and blow my nose too but that just made an unholy mess. I was grateful I was wearing my jacket as this took the brunt of all the crap (where else can I wipe my nose etc!).

This slowed me down and knocked my confidence and started making me worried about the MoRunning 10K in a couple of weeks as that is a morning run… I tried my best to block such thoughts from my mind and once I found my pace and stopped worrying I found my stride and got on with it.

The first 15 minute block and most of the second block were killers today and it felt like I was plodding along until my encounter with a pit-bull terrier!

I run down hill past a petrol station and there is a house with a high hedge next to the exit so I am always cautious when crossing because cars exiting the petrol station never consider pedestrians on that road. I ran my normal speed and looked and was glad there were no cars…

What I wasn't prepared for was the woman walking out of the petrol station with her pit-bull terrier on one of those extending walking leads. Before I knew it the dog made a lunge for me. It all happened so fast I cannot be sure it was trying to jump up and say hello or attack me but it made me jump and my reactions kicked in.

The woman screamed and as she did I used the momentum of my right arm to punch the pit-bull square on the muzzle with my water bottle. The dog recoiled and backed off towards the woman who apologised continuously. I didn't stick around to apologise for hitting her dog and she didn't seem worried. I think she was more shocked that she lost control of her dog. As I ran away from the petrol station I could hear the woman continuously apologising to me and berating the dog. I simply shouted back “No worries, it happens” and continued on my way.

This gave me a bit of an adrenaline boost and I used it to carry my weight forward and faster down hill and I could see I had gained my pace to around 6:21 which was much better than I had done earlier in the run.

My final 15 minutes were much faster than the rest of the run and by this stage my breathing had sorted itself out and my chest had cleared. I made it home at good speed and was just under 8K which is not bad considering the fact I stopped to throw up and had to avoid the Pit Bull!

Now I am home and I am awaiting a phone call as I have to pick up some work over the weekend. I can only hope my work is less eventful than my run!

Fastest song of this run was Many Moons (Donovan + Savile SonicSpecialists Remix) by Janelle Monae. A track I only adding to my running playlist yesterday!

I collected some more sponsorship this week and wanted to thank those kind enough to put their hands in their pockets to sponsor me in aid of Alzheimer's Society. I am running the MoRunning 10K on the 25th November and would appreciate as much help as you can give 🙂