1st run in the Redwoods

Gas $3.89 a gallon

Mileage to get to the forest 5.5

Scheduled run for the day: Just 2 miles

Total run time: 33.05!

Likelihood of bears in the forest: Huge!!

But being up in the Redwood Forest away from all city dogs and witnessing peer beauty....absolutely priceless!!!

Angels

Last night I had dreamed that I was running in a forest. 

In this forest, there were angels everywhere. 

God was putting them in my path to protect me.

Letter I just submitted to the editor of my towns newspaper.

After my dog got attacked by another dog , I wrote this letter to the Editor of the local newspaper. I am really sick of the constant loose dogs in my city.


The letter:

My family and I moved to here about a month ago.

As a runner, I have been encountered by more dogs in this county that are not fenced. My dog and I have been chased or followed by at least 1-2 dogs per day. The majority are friendly. Unfortunately, sometimes these dogs will follow us for a good ½ mile away from their homes. Despite my repeated attempts to get them to go away, they don’t. I have to carry mace to protect me from these loose dogs. My dog has even gotten attacked by a dog, who first almost got hit by a car in a 50 mile zone.

I do not understand how dog owners can be so irresponsible when it comes to their dogs. Aren’t dogs supposed to be confined to their yards when the owner is not with them, not walking around the city like people?

I’d like to say to the people of this town “please keep your dogs safe by confining them.”

Running with dogs

I took my dog out for a run for the first time in my new town. I was a little nervous about encountering Lucky, the husky or the 3 legged dog. I decided that it would probably be best if I avoided the street that the two live on. So we went a different way. Unfortunately we encountered a different dog. It was big and it looked like a wolf. Of course it came over. So I stopped and let it smell my dog and I pet it, it was friendly. I told it to go home, but it didn't. So I said "well come on than!" So it followed us down the road and when we were crossing the street, I yelled at it to go home and it didn't. It followed me a ways more, when I really yelled at it and ran at it a little. The dog was a good 1/2 mile away from its home. It left, but only jumped into someone else's yard.

I think I might become known as the running dog lady. I can see it now; I'll have a large group of dogs following us down the street on my daily run. That will be a funny sight!

I also took Boogie to the Veterinarian for his check up and Rabies vaccination. The doctor gave him a clean bill of health. But he did agree with me that Boogie was a little overweight. I was anxious to get him on the scale to see how overweight he was and it ended up being 6.5 pounds since his last visit. Notice I didn't blame my mother? I'm thinking it! She gave him cheese filled dog treats and canned gravy dog food. When she knew I was irritated by her choice of treats, she gave him more. She is the only one that thinks he was chubby before, she’s in complete denial. Its okay, he is now training with me. His doctor thinks it is wonderful for him to run with me and I even mentioned what kind of runner that I am and that he has ran 24 miles before. He knows that my type of dog has high energy and needs a lot of exercise.

Moving forward....running plans for the new year.

If you haven't heard my drama from the past weekend, here it is. I drove to Portland to run in my 8th 50K at Hagg Lake in Forest Grove, OR. The Hagg Lake run is extremely muddy with poor footing, some hills. It is a tough run. It would have been my 3rd time running the mud run. I knew driving up that the forecast was really dicey, with a scheduled low in Forest Grove of 27 degrees and a chance of snow showers.

The morning of the race, I woke up at 4:45 AM, excited about the run. I got dressed and headed out the door. I first noticed that the roads in Milwaukie, where I was staying were a little bit icy, but not bad at all. My car window however had to be scraped.

I drove about a mile and my car slipped a little bit. This got my heart racing and I was completely nervous from then on. I might mention here how much I am completely terrified of driving on ice. I have major panic attacks. So from then on, I couldn't even eat my breakfast.

Driving on Hwy 26, I noticed two horrible wrecks and I knew the ice was to blame. Luckily I found a car going 40, so I stayed behind them. When I got off the freeway and into Hillsboro which goes to Forest Grove, which is where the real trouble began. The "black ice" turned into an icy road that was very visible. So as I was shaking, I turned into a parking lot and called my husband at 6:45 AM, woke up and said "Brett, I am so scared, there is ice everywhere......" he told me that I probably shouldn't go any further because I'd likely make a mistake. I knew he was right and I turned my rear wheel drive only car around. I gave up the race.

I saw a car flipped over on its side on the way home, but was still upset about having to give up the race. I did later, once the sun was out and roads were no in a horrible condition, drove to Hagg Lake and watched runners finish for about 2 hours. It was heart warming to watch friends finish. 

To redeem myself, I am running 3 big races in 2.5 months. The first two are in preparation for my main goal, the Mt. Hood 50. I will be running the McDonald Forest 50K on 5/14. Next will be the Sunriver Marathon on 6/25 and the final is the Mt. Hood 50 on 7/30.

The McDonald Forest run will provide the hill training; there is an elevation gain of 6,700 feet. For further information, go to

http://www.oregontrailseries.org/mac/

The Sunriver Marathon will provide the elevation training as Sunriver has an elevation of around 4200 feet. It will also be warm.

The 3rd is the Mt. Hood 50. Taken from the website,

http://mthood50.com/ 

"The heavily shaded course is an out and back almost entirely on the Pacific Crest Trail.  The trail is generally soft with good footing, although there are some technical sections with rocks and roots. Runners will start by running North from the Clackamas Ranger Station to the Frog Lake Aid Station. They will then return to the start/finish and head South to the Warm Springs Meadows Aid Station, where they will turn around and head back to the finish.Total elevation gain is approximately 5,630 feet."

Running these 3 races will also qualify me for the Marathon Maniacs, finally. To qualify, the lowest entry is to run 3 marathons in 3 months. I’ll be doing 2 ultra’s and 1 marathon in 2.5 months.

I will be training with my dog. He can run 24 miles and since he was away from me for a month, he has gained a few pounds living with Grandma and needs the exercise. He will also help me gain confidence in the new forest in my new hometown.

I have also decided that I will not be signing up for anymore winter runs in Portland. I live 6.5 hours away now and the weather is too unpredictable.

Irresponsible dog owners

Since moving from a town in Oregon with a population of over 90,000 to a small coastal town in California a month ago, I have never encountered more dogs running loose, most without tags. They are not fenced in and they don't have owners looking after them.

I've been chased by a 3 legged dog, I've encountered a pit bull in the forest. I've been chased by a Cocker spaniel, and a Wiener dog, I got goose bumps when a very large Husky sitting in it’s lawn and barked at me. My heart came out of my chest after that one.

The scariest incident came the afternoon when I had to run just a few miles from my home. The husky and the 3 legged dog came out of no where and were following me. When I stopped to encounter them, the husky looked as if it were going to bite me. I had my mace with me, was about to use it. I yelled at them to go home, they backed off just a little, but were still trying to follow me. The worst part of all this was that the owner of the husky was pulling into his driveway and still didn’t do anything for me. I got away from the dogs. At my turn around for my running route, I said a prayer and headed back toward the area, bravely. I wanted the owner’s address of the husky. As I got the address, the dogs were at a different house on the opposite side of the street. I got that house # as well and I stopped. I bravely took my hand out to pet the dogs and they turned out to be friendly. I noticed the husky was not wearing a collar and tag but the 3 legged dog was.

I remembered what Deputy Shane told me when I took a self defense class a few months prior. If the incident is happening now, dial 911. So I took out my cell phone and called. They transferred me to animal control and after talking with them for awhile and giving them all the information (while petting the husky) they told me that unfortunately they wouldn't be able to do anything about it until the following day!!!!

The husky had been hanging around a head start building, so I went inside to chat with me. The woman inside told me that she knows the dogs very well and they are a frequent problem. 

After researching dog laws, trying to find something that applied to my area, this was all that I could come up with;

California is one of the states that has a dog bite statute, meaning a law that repudiates in whole or part the common law's requirement of "scienter" (i.e., knowledge that the animal had previously injured a person in the same manner, such as by a bite). California Civil Code section 3342 provides as follows:

3342.  (a) The owner of any dog is liable for the damages suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness.  A person is lawfully upon the private property of such owner within the meaning of this section when he is on such property in the performance of any duty imposed upon him by the laws of this state or by the laws or postal regulations of the United States, or when he is on such property upon the invitation, express or implied, of the owner.

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/civil.htm

I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing problem for me. It's too bad that these dog owners don't have enough common sense to be responsible with their dogs. 

Update:
Since writing this, I have learned that the Husky, whom I might add is large enough to be on the set of the Twilight series, is named Lucky. He got his name because it was once hit by a car going 40 and the dog was completely unharmed. Interesting.