Dirty run

I wish I had taken a picture of myself this morning after I finished my run. Tuesday is "garbage day" in my area, and so I usually dread my Tuesday morning runs. Inevitably, I will end up right behind a stinky garbage truck, and just when I pass him, he will get back in front - allowing several opportunities for me to encounter/enjoy the smell. I was able to avoid that this morning, however, I had something even MORE pleasant happen!

As I was running on the sidewalk along a fairly busy street, I approached an intersection. As I approached, I saw a sanitation truck heading towards me - but it wasn't a "garbage" truck, instead it was one that gathered stuff like tree limbs, grass cuttings, and leaves. Since he did not have a turn signal on, I proceeded to cross the road. Just as I stepped off the sidewalk and onto the road, the truck quickly turned directly into my path. I was so close I could have slapped the side of the door - that dude almost hit me! How could he not see me? To make matters even better, as he turned so sharply, some of the stuff that was in the back of the truck flew over the side - coating me and my sweaty self in dirt, grass, pine-straw, and leaves. I wasn't exactly buried in the stuff, but it was enough to make the rest of my run uncomfortable. I was a site to see - I'm sure any cars that passed me must have wondered what kind of "extreme" running I was doing. I'm sure no sanitation truck drivers would have noticed - they wouldn't see me in the first place.

All in all, it was still a good, fun run - 5 miles. They weren't all negative splits today, but the average pace was 18 seconds faster than my run yesterday. Not trying to overdo things like I did last year when I got the 2 stress fractures, I am taking tomorrow off from running. Definitely feeling good about my conditioning so far. Both yesterday and today miles 4 and 5 felt better than the first 3.