D-I N-O S-A you are an old man

I'm a dinosaur. As in D-I N-O S-A you are an old man. Getting old sucks. I wish I was a kid again. But I'm not nor will I be. Which means I just have to suck it up and deal with it. So I did. Oddly, sitting it what hurts the most. Running feels just fine. I just wasn't really in the mood to run much.

And of course, it was yet another exciting run. I wasn't even a half mile into the run when suddenly a deer makes its way across the trail. And then another one takes off behind me. And then I get three steps down the trail and hear splashing in the swamp next to me. Turns out about 5 of them took off ACROSS the damn swamp. What the hell? Never saw that before.

A few more steps down the trail and a dog suddenly appeared in front of me. I stopped, heard voices, and saw the humans coming off a hunting access road. They weren't hunters, just walkers. And once I saw them, I saw the two other dogs. I didn't recognize the black lab and the German Shepard at first, but once I saw the yappy white small dog I knew they were cool and wouldn't bite me. So their owner came down to calm them down and I continued on my merry way.

From there, I continued on and made my way to the old bridge before turning around. I was struggling with my hear rate but it would eventually become a lost cause. My resting heart rate was higher than normal this morning but I took it later than normal and after my breakfast. On top of all this, my back got tweaked yesterday making beds. Bent over and suddenly I'm on the floor in pain trying to crawl to my foam roller. Oddly, during the run I felt fine. Sitting in the car hurt but laying on the floor felt good. Seems to be twisting in certain directions or certain movements trigger the pain but outside of that, it's just a nagging feeling that something's there.

On the way back to the car, I passed another dog off their leash. This one was behind a home, a good 15 feet above me on the embankment, and didn't look too happy to see me. On top of that, it looked like a pit bull. I'm not saying all pit bulls are mean, but they do have a reputation of being treated poorly by owners. So I pulled my knife and kept it handy just in case. The dog didn't chase me so I eventually pocketed my knife and carried on. Thankfully the dog appeared to be well trained enough to not chase strangers.

And that was about it.

Photo:

Just a downed tree.

Vine:


Weather:
Temps were 25F at the start and maybe 30F at the end. Sky was overcast. Winds were moderate enough to feel the chill.

Fluids and Fuel:
Breakfast was waffles (2), bacon (3), eggs (2), yogurt, bagel, and coffee. A bit larger than normal but I was hungrier than normal. During the run I had two bottles of plain water. Recovery was Hammer Recoverite followed by a lunch of grilled cheese, Cesar salad, and iced tea.

Aches and Pains:
Biggest thing was my back. But like I said, it had no impact on my run. There was some residual tightness but not really any pain. Right ankle also hurt for a few miles but eventually went away.

Gear:
Wore shorts, pants, and another pair of shorts. Wore thermal shirt, long sleeve shirt, balaclava, winter hat, and gloves. Also took along my knife and phone.

Heart Rate:
Like I said, I struggled to keep it low. I think part of this was the cold and part was worrying about my back.

Splits:
Mile 0.8 - 11:06 (AVG HR 137)
Mile 1 - 13:46 (AVG HR 140)
Mile 2 - 15:47 (AVG HR 144)
Mile 3 - 20:29 (AVG HR 141)
Mile 4 - 12:58 (AVG HR 146)
Mile 0.8 - 9:26 (AVG HR 145)
Finish - 1:23:35
MIN HR - 98
AVG HR - 142
MAX HR - 165
RHR - 70