After walking Bennie down-back, I procrastinated running. The conditions were borderline for me, and I was seriously thinking about hopping on the elliptical. When the sun came out, I decided that I would head outside for a run instead.
The road was a combination of white ice, ice, slush, and some tar. So I was torn between wearing my ice spikes or running down-back. Because when I walked down there with Bennie, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the road down to the lower gate.
The big thing about running in winter is adaptability and willingness to change up a workout on the fly to fit a run into what the weather dictates. Also use the clothes and equipment to suit the conditions.
When I got out to the road, it was a sloppy mess, and my choice to go down-back was the correct one. A few hundred yards down the road, a neighbor was shoveling out her mailbox and didn’t see me coming. As I got closer, I saw her chocolate lab coming down the driveway.
Before I got to the driveway, I called out “Hi” to let her know I was there. The lab who was off-leash, turned and aggressively came at me, causing me to stop running. Aggressive enough that I had my hand on the pepper spray that I carry. She was able to call it back and apologized.
I shook my head, waved, and ran on.
Thankfully, when I got on the dirt road, the side of the road going down Stevens Hill, the dirt was showing through in few spots, so that was good. At the lower gate, I got lucky. One of the local guys had plowed through to Tiffany Road, which made running down-back a lot easier.
When I got to the crossroads I had thought about going to the farm, but Blake Road was crap, and the road towards Tiffany was plowed, which made the decision easy.
I headed toward Tiffany and wondered what it would like?
There was a pleasant surprise when I got to the end of the dirt road. Tiffany was mostly clear. Wet and some slush on both sides, but runnable compared to Philbrick.
I do have to say that I was impressed with the 361 Meraki’s. They did great despite the questionable conditions on the roads and even when I got into some sloppy stuff, I felt secure. While I wouldn’t use them for conditions that were much worse than this morning, stuff like this they worked fine.
Overall, a good run and one that is starting my mental adaptations to running during the winter. It takes a few runs before looking I get used to the idea of running in these conditions and will make days like this, just another day to get out the door and not procrastinate like I did today.
Harold's Blog 
Maybe you could try and make friends with the dog, so hopefully it will be friendlier with you next time.
LikeLike
The neighbor isn’t that friendly, so I don’t go out of my way to try, because they are out with the dog when it outside most of the time. I have attempted speak with them before and been quickly rebuffed, they seem to prefer the way things are. The dog thought it was protecting the owner from an intruder, so I wasn’t too upset about the whole incident. The dog was doing what it thought it was supposed to do. It is more the issue that a dog is supposed to be controlled and this is a common issue around where I run. It gets old after a while, and is why I carry the pepper spray.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right, the issue is not with the dog, but with its owner. Unfortunately, a lot of dog owners are self-centered and don’t consider this an issue. I’ve seen similar incidents where owners call their dogs back just in time without apologizing and avoiding eye contact with the people that their dogs had almost attacked.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is mostly a lack of respect for other people when this happens – it is sad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I forgot to add: it’s good that you bring your pepper spray along whenever you go running.
LikeLiked by 1 person