This week, I dropped the Tuesday and Thursday runs and will leave them dropped for the foreseeable future because Becki and I are running in shifts now. I run Monday and Wednesday, and she goes Tuesday and Thursday. Friday I get home early so she can run while I take the kids and vice versa. Then, on Saturday, there's plenty of time for both of us to be able to find times to run. This will probably continue this way until we get another student (February or March sometime, I am told).
The running this week went well. So well, in fact, that I think I'm going to skip the next week of the running schedule and just move directly to the following week. That's a welcome change from having flunked so many weeks.
This week was running in three spurts of 9 minutes each, separated by 1 minute walking breaks. I appreciated having the breaks, but didn't really feel like I needed them right away. After running for 9 minutes, I felt like I could easily go for several more. In fact, Becki actually claims to have run 20 minutes on Saturday, so we're both feeling like we've sort of broken through the wall.
Next week's schedule is supposed to be two 13 minute laps, separated by a two minute walking break. So, overall, it's the same amount of walking as this week, and actually one minute less of running. This doesn't excite me. The following week's schedule is 2 chunks of 14 minutes, separated by 1 minute of walking. This is only 1 minute more running than this week, and 1 minute less walking, and I feel like it's totally doable. The week after that is just run 30 minutes straight. I'd rather start the 14 minute week now and repeat it if I can't hack the half hour runs. Otherwise, if I start the 13 minute week then go to the 14 minute, then have to repeat a week to make the half hour, I'd be even further behind than I am already.
The big story from this week is that I was finally bit by a dog on Saturday. The area in which we live is most charitably described as "ghetto". There's gang activity, drug activity, drunk driving, or all sorts of threats that make people ask incredulously, "You run alone in your neighborhood?". I've never once felt threatened by any person or persons while running in my neighborhood. Not even at 1 in the morning. The only thing that I've thought was threatening are the dogs.
On the streets where I run, virtually every house has the same sort of chain link fence around it, and at least half of the houses have a dog or dogs running around in the yard, usually of the large angry variety. No matter when I run, whether day or night, I've got a constant stream of dogs barking, snarling, and snapping at me at the edge of the fence when I run by. I rarely run on the sidewalk; I'm usually on the road nowhere near the fences. And I never do anything threatening to the dogs. I never even look at them. Yet, every other house on both sides of the street will erupt in this cacophony of barks as I run by.
It really upsets me. It's not so much that I'm scared (although I am just a little). It's that it's so grating on me, and so tiring, and interferes so much with the pleasure I would normally derive from running. It also just bothers me so much that we as a society have decided that this is allowable behavior. If I sat in my yard lying in wait, and then upon seeing a passerby, lunge at them shouting at the top of my lungs and swinging a baseball bat over the top of my fence at them, I would most likely be booked for assault. Yet, I can run down the street and have over 50% of the yards pose the exact same threat of physical damage to me, and know that if not for that fence, those dogs would be inflicting harm on me. And for some reason, that's just fine to people. Why?
So, on Saturday afternoon I'm running through the neighborhood. I'm listening to music, but I try to keep it low enough that I can hear vehicles and dogs and things. Yet, somehow, I completely did not notice that a dog had run up behind me until it bit me on the ankle. I think it was a ninja. I wheeled around, and saw not the fierce German Shepherd or Doberman that I was expecting, but a cute little tan and white Spaniel mix. (I came to find out later that this dog's name is Chiquito. The family's other dog? A chihuahua named Taquito.)
The dog ran back into its yard, and I walked over. I shouted to a lady in the yard to find out if it was her dog. She said it was, and I said it just bit me, and that I was calling the police. (I've got the police community services number on speed dial, since I've had to call several times for "quality of life" type violations in my neighborhood that don't necessarily merit a 911 call). The dispatcher said they would send an officer and an ambulance, and I had to stridently insist that an ambulance wasn't necessary. The bite was only bleeding a little out of the puncture wounds from the little teeth, and most of the damage was just a swollen bruise from how hard the little jaws clamped down.
They did send an officer, a kid of no more than 22 who I'm sure is way at the bottom of the pecking order to get stuck on dog bite duty. The officer took 20 minutes to get there, though, and in the meantime the woman's husband produced the paperwork showing the dog's license and the current immunizations and things. They brought out hydrogen peroxide and a bandage so I could clean it up. They were a really nice older hispanic couple, and they were really apologetic about the whole thing. They explained that they only had the gate open because she was pulling the car out to go somewhere, and someone else opened the door and the dog just flew right out of the house. Interestingly enough, they also mentioned they had another dog bite someone once that they got cited for.
The officer finally showed up and made a big show of putting us on opposite sides of the street so as to get our statements separately. I'm not sure how he thought our stories might differ. Me: "Their dog bit me." Them: "No it didn't, I think that guy must have bit himself or something." He said he had to call Animal Control and let them determine what to do, but he asked me what I would like to see happen. I said they seem genuinely sorry about the whole thing, and they've been very helpful, and I didn't see any need to cite them. Nor did I see any need to take the dog or anything since the license and immunizations seemed to be in order. I explained I basically just wanted to see it reported for three reasons. 1. I wanted to be protected in case the wound got infected with some rare bacteria from the dog, and I was hospitalized for a weeks (which happened to a guy I know). 2. I wanted someone else to check things out in case the family's nice act was a really a charade and their dogs are serial biters or something. 3. I wanted to make the point to the family and all the gawkers standing around that this is not at all acceptable in a civilized society.
I don't often do things just to make a point, but I'm from the school of thought that says that a right that you can't exercise (or don't feel like you can exercise) is a right you don't actually have. I believe that I have the right to run down the road unmolested by dogs (even the cute little ones), and I need to stand up for that right lest it be forgotten. So, I decided long ago that if one of the neighborhood dogs ever leaves their yard and goes after me, I will bring the full legal weight to bear on the situation if needs be to prove that right. That, fortunately didn't seem needed here.
Right after I got bit and before the officer came, I did try to explain to the people know just how mad it was making me. I honestly wouldn't have been so angry except for the fact I feel threatened every single day, like I should be afraid because I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing. And even then, I wouldn't be as mad about it except for the fact that Becki got bit while running just the day before. In her case, the dog only got part of her pants and not her. But, the owner seemed really indifferent and unconcerned about the whole thing, almost like they thought it was Becki's fault for not being able to run faster than the dog. Since it didn't get her in the flesh, she didn't do anything about it then, but she's still planning on reporting it to Animal Control to have them investigate whether the dog is actually licensed or immunized.
Anyway, back to my case. The Animal Control officer wasn't due for another 10-15 minutes, so I told the police officer I would finish my run and loop back when I was done. By the time I got back, Animal Control was there, and they had checked whatever they needed to check. They had me sign a statement saying that I don't wish to prosecute the owners or the dog itself, then gave me case numbers in case my foot falls off later or something. Then I walked home, about an hour later than I would have otherwise.
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