Posted in: Health, Home & Garden

Terror, the Warmup of Champions

I’ve been dabbling with jogging again as part of the guided workouts on my Microsoft Band, and I’ve been doing so around the house (yes, inside the house) because our neighbors got themselves yet another dog and I have well-documented dog issues. This one isn’t huge, but it’s big enough to cause major damage and is seriously unfriendly. I’d been giving it a wide berth. Until Tuesday.

My Idiot Brain: We have a ten-minute jog today. Let’s go run around the parking lot across the street. The dog won’t see us over there.

Me: Okay!

Brian came out with me to watch for dogs and creepers, and it’s a good thing he did. I trotted down the driveway and across the street, but didn’t get even halfway into the parking lot before I heard the growling. I stopped and turned around to find a red-brown dog with red-brown eyes evaluating my chewability. It clearly decided I was food, because its owner couldn’t call it back and it was starting to lunge at me.

Brian was coming over to stop the dog, which spurred the owner into scream frequencies rarely heard in nature, and that finally convinced the dog to return home. Despite being thoroughly traumatized, I did finish my run (in a parking lot farther away). Terror did an excellent job of raising my heart rate to optimal exercise levels, but I’m not in a hurry to repeat the experience. I was so rattled afterwards that I ended up brushing my teeth when I meant to wash my face.

I know without a doubt I would have been mauled if Brian hadn’t been around. My hero protected me, but we both hate that he had to. The attempted break-in last year was bad enough; this neighborhood has steadily declined in the 12 years we’ve lived here and now we’ve got vicious dogs chasing me and my squirrels around. Not cool. We’ve been holding out because we want to buy a house and be sure we’re going to stay there a while, but I’m pretty ready to speed up the process now. Research is underway.

In the meantime, if anyone hears of a nice dog-free zone to run in around here, please let me know. My goals aren’t going to reach themselves.

Comments (2) on "Terror, the Warmup of Champions"

  1. Oh my goodness, that would scare me to death, and I ADORE dogs. But not so much attack dogs . So sorry you had to go through that, but hope it leads you guys to a great new neighborhood, and sooner rather than later!

    1. Thanks, Crabby! I love dogs, but the last couple of years have made me more afraid of them than I am of bees. Never thought I’d see that happen, hehe. I’ll keep you posted on the search for a new neighborhood!

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