To start off with, an uplifting update! We are in housing! We only had to stay at my friends' house fro about two and a half weeks before they had something ready for us on base, which is incredibly lucky. They just completed a new section of housing, so we're the first residents of our home! Which has its advantages and disadvantages. On the up side, no damage or anything from previous residents. Awesome. Disadvantage, since it's so incredibly brand new, a lot of things aren't quite as finished as they would ideally be. For example, we have no lawn. Just dirt. Which will eventually be lawn. Because of the flood, water conservation has been a major button issue lately (seems odd, doesn't it? Because there is too much water we need to conserve it? But the problem is clean water, since many water lines were broken or contaminated during the flooding) and therefore there was a ban on watering lawns. Putting down grass seed when you can't water is a waste of time, so they've been waiting. The ban has recently been lifted, so they're going to put down seed soon and we're hoping to have the grass up and the roots well enough established to "take over" the care of our lawn by the end of September, beginning of October. At that point, we can buy or rent (most likely rent, seeing as we don't know how long we'll be in Minot) fencing for the backyard so that we can let the dogs out to play without having to worry too much about them.
Which brings me to the title of this post.
I am not a very big person. I'm about five feet and one inch tall with a very petite frame. I weigh maybe 120 lbs. but if I were in peak physical condition (which I haven't been in quite a while) my ideal weight would probably be closer to 105-110. I own two large dogs who are both pushing 80 lbs. I am very adamant about good obedience training with them because, quite frankly, I can't rely on strength to control them. They're too big. I've spent a lot of time working on door training with them so that they know that they are not to run out the door as soon as it opens, but wait for me to go through first and then issue them an invitiation to follow. This has the dual purpose of reinforcing my place in the "pack" as well as preventing "door dashing" while they go gallavanting across the neighborhood. Apparently, though, being in a new house makes them forget everything they've ever learned.
I got up this morning shortly after Matt left for work and went to take the dogs out. We had set teather stakes close to the house so that we can let them wander a bit before we can get fencing put in, though base regulations require that we supervise them while they're tied up. Not too much of a problem. Both dogs were sitting politely behind me as I opened the door this morning and reached out to grab the teathers and hook them up. While I was bent over, Shadow slipped past me and trotted out into the yard.
It took him only a few seconds to realize that he wasn't attached to anything and that he could run, and with a joyous leap, he took off across the dirt that will eventually be the field between my house and the next. I swore with considerable color, slammed the door in poor Abby's face to keep her inside, and took off after him. Keep in mind that I had just gotten up. I had had the foresight to get dressed as there were supposed to be repair workers coming this morning to finish up some cracks that needed to be patched due to a settling foundation. So at least I wasn't running around bra-less in a way-oversized tank top and boxer shorts.
The difference between "the running game" when we're in a fenced area and when we're in the open with my dog, is that in a fenced area, it's "run in a circle, then come back for a scratch and run again". In the open, it's just "run as fast as I can! WHEE!" If it wasn't 8:30am and I wasn't terrified of a cop driving by and seeing my loose dog (leash laws are strictly enforced on base) I probably would have enjoyed seeing how incredibly happy he was about running. As it was, I was not amused in the least. I found myself hoping as we sprinted past other houses with fenced in back yards that someone would have a dog that would be outside already which would distract him long enough for me to get a hold of his collar. No dice. About 4 or 5 blocks later he found a bed of flowers with a very interesting scent, and I was able to walk up to him and grab a hold of his collar. I then stood there and heaved for a few minutes, as I don't know that I've ever sprinted that far before in my life. I am not normally the kind of runner built for speed. Wishing for a moment that I had a small dog that I could pick up and carry home, I then dragged him back by his collar, because I hadn't had time to grab his leash, and put him back inside.
My planned productive day of unpacking ended up being spent laying on the couch watching The Sound of Music because I had spent my entire day's worth of energy chasing the dog. I also took both dogs for an hour-long walk when the workers did show up, as they warned me that the mud they were using was going to stink something awful. The walk was more of a drag, because remembering training in a new palce is apparently incredibly difficult. I'm going to have to put both of them back in the Gentle Leaders for a while at least, until they remember how to walk on a leash.
The point is, I didn't even worry about not having shoes on, since that's how I always run. Now, my training runs are quite a bit slower than that and I haven't been training for the past few months, thus my exhaustion, but I didn't even hesitate to take off without shoes. And my feet feel fine now. I had a little bit of top of the foot pain, often associated with pushing yourself too hard in the barefoot world, but it has since subsided. I'm very surprised. If I'd tried to run that hard over uneven and soft terrain in running shoes, my ankles and knees would be killing me, and I ceratinly wouldn't be sitting cross-legged in this chair as I am, it woudl put too much pressure on the sore joints. It really is amazing what the human body is capable of. When I needed to, I didn't think at all about running or form, where to optimize my strike, my posture, staying relaxed. I just ran. My body just took over and did things right.
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