An easy week. Thank goodness after week 2′s misery.

No really.

This week, according to our plan, was this:

• Monday: Rest day
• Tuesday: 3 miles
• Wednesday: 5 miles
• Thursday: 3 miles
• Friday: Rest day
• Saturday: 6 miles
• Sunday: Cross training

I’m actually running my mid-week runs on a M-W-F or M-W-Th plan instead of hitting three days in a row.  This is only because I hate waking up at 5:30 am and want to break it up with decent nights of sleep.

So the first 3 miler was rained out.  We’ve been having some insane thunderstorms here in Florida, for the past 5 or 6 weeks.  Unending it seems, until this week. Instead, I hit the treadmill after work and wasn’t disappointed. I can handle the treadmill for short runs like this, and it was an easy 3.  I used it as an excuse to do a little strength training too, and lifted both upper and lower body.  #win

I met Ginger to run our 5 miler on Wednesday morning. We noticed on the radar that a massive storm was approaching, and were able to witness an amazing lightening show whenever we ran in that direction.  To that end, we ran loops around a local park – 5.5 loops to make our 5 miles – so that we were always within a short distance of our cars, should the storm approach.  It didn’t, but Ginger has been feeling under the weather so had a rough time.  We ran a nice, easy, slow pace and I actually really enjoyed it.  She finished.  That’s all that was necessary and she’s feeling better now.

I ran my second 3 miler on Friday morning, at a quick pace and with a light step.  I felt really strong and good on this run, which is a nice change from last week’s struggles.  I wish I knew the secret to sticking with this feeling.

The weekend was a change-up from the plan.  We were scheduled for 6, a drop-back week, but since we’re going to Key West for the weekend next week (and anticipate a few nights of heavy drinking), we switched up our weeks.  Which put us at 11 miles for this weekend.

And a hot, sweaty 11 miles it was.

But it’s what we expected.

It’s weird getting used to running with both Ginger (who I’m quite used to running with) and my husband, who blows snot rockets and farts occasionally along the route.

We all had a huge laugh when a ferocious (roughly 12-pound) dog attacked my vegetarian, animal-rights activist Ginger.

Her exact words: “I’ll kick you in the face you ANIMAL!” as she literally jumped 6 feet across the sidwalk to get out of harm’s way.

Seriously.  The dog looked like this.

But her reaction – her top-of-her-lungs scream and 3-foot jump made it seem like the dog looked more like this:

To her credit, the dog was barking and growling and attacking us with his (her?) vicious little teeth.  My husband gave a very graceful swing of his leg to emulate kicking him (don’t worry – he just swung towards the dog, didn’t actually kick him/her) so he’d back off, and we continued on our way, laughing our asses off.

It took me 3 or 4 blocks to get my breathe back.  Laughing hard is difficult when you’re running, it turns out.

Now, since our mileage has surpassed the route we normally take, we had to run north before doing our usual loop.  Which meant a serious 8 mile stretch before our first water stop.  In 82 and increasing temps.  This was not gonna fly.  By mile 5, we were all dying.

We passed a city park.  One of those with a cool pool and big playground.  We were convinced there’d be a water fountain.  And there was. Behind a 6-foot fence.

A mile or so later, we passed a marina.  We thought there’d be a fountain, at least for the boaters who pay a ridiculous amount of money to keep their boats safe.  No luck.

Finally, around mile 7, we found the Vinoy golf club – and at this early hour (about 7:00 am),  there weren’t many people around but the gate to the pool area was cracked open.  So we walked in.  And found an unmanned tiki bar with a stack of cups and two sinks.  Score!  We each chugged a cup of warm water and were on our way, up to the 8ish mile point where we knew we’d find our favorite ice cold fountain.

The last three miles were run in the full morning sun, both in the sky and reflected off the water.  But we did it.  We struggled, but we finished it and it’s over.

That was the longest distance I’ve run since, oh, March?  and I’d completely forgotten about the exhaustion that comes with those long distances.  My legs felt ok, my body felt ok, but I was tired.  Like, sleep tired.  I took a 20-minute nap at 10:00 in the morning, and that was all I needed.

This weekend, we head to Key West with friends so I don’t anticipate any running.  That means I’ll be front-loading the week with my 3-6-3-6 before we leave, but should resume my normal schedule next week.

Have you ever been attacked or charged at by an animal when you were out running? How do you protect yourself and how do you react?