Woo hoo - ran for an hour :) Boo hoo - got bitten by a dog :(

[Thistime]

At the same time as starting the 5x50 challenge, I decided to start the B210k programme.

Week one was fine, although it was a bit strange going back to walking breaks after having got use to running continuously for upward of 30 mins.

The first 2 runs of week 2 were OK and then I started to struggle a bit - tried the third week 2 run twice and had terrible middle sections (walking bits of it and generally struggling mentally). I am not sure if I was just going out too fast, whether the daily exercise as part of 5x50 was just making my legs heavy or whether my appalling diet for the past week was to blame. I was at the point of giving up on the whole running for more than 5k thing, so I thought I would go back to one of Laura's week nine 30 minutes runs.

I set off at a much slower pace than usual and completed the 30 minutes and felt fine, thought I would do 45 minutes and then still feeling fine thought I would try and get to 60 and then, on a bit of a high, thought I might make the last 10 minutes to home and then ......

at precisely 1 hour and 1 minute, I passed a man holding onto his dog ' he's not too good with people, he said, so I will keep him on the lead' well I thanked him and ran past along the bridle way, must only have got about 20 metres when he let the dog off the lead.

The little terror then charged straight at me and bit my calf - my goodness, am not lying it really really hurt!

Anyway, the guy was really embarrassed and I just wanted to get home, so we left it at that.

Bathed it and sprayed it with iodine and off to the Drs today for a tetanus and some antibiotics this morning.

Good job my run was so good, as I definitely think my runners high stopped me feeling quite so sorry for myself - anyone know if they sell Kevlar socks??

[sergeant_tibbs Graduate]

Oh my gosh. I hope your leg feels better soon, but good on you for finishing an hour! Sometimes it's easier without that looming challenge and you just keep upping your mini challenge..."just one more minute....okay maybe a few more!"

[petal51 Graduate]

Feel I have to comment on the dog issue.

This is bad. The dog clearly has a problem and should either be put to sleep or muzzled and never allowed off lead. What if it bites a child?

Being a dog owner, and always running with my dog off lead, I am constantly aware and conscious of others. I have now trained her to heel off lead, so if we pass another runner, walker or cyclist, she is under my control...

On a lighter note, well done for a great run, I'm looking forward to starting the B210K!

[Thistime Graduate in reply to petal51]

I agree, felt so silly at the time as it was only quite a small dag (Jack Russell size) - but was thinking about this overnight and am going to see if I can locate the owner today, all the information on the internet says you should report any dog attack to the police, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Am on the case, I assure you!

[petal51 Graduate in reply to Thistime]

Yes, was going to suggest taking it further, but didn't like to poke my nose in too much!

[Thistime Graduate in reply to petal51]

Not at all - I am a dog owner as well, and this sort of irresponsible behaviour really annoys me as it gives the rest of us a bad name

[Oldgirl Graduate in reply to petal51]

I agree 100% the owner knows the dog bites and yet its not muzzled, I can't believe that, he needs a good talking to by the police.

Well done on your hour long run, don't overdo it though its suggested you add only 10% to your previous long distance, you don't want to end up with a running injury.

[Beads Graduate in reply to Thistime]

Congrats on your run!

Commiserations about the dog bite.

I'm a dog owner as well and though I don't think he'd bite anyone I do try to grab him when I see runners or cyclists as he's determined to find himself anew owner/beg to be stroked and has a tendancy to get under feet and possibly trip someone.

I do think though that if a dog bites you (or even scares you) you're well within your rights to kick it (though adrenalin at the time would probably distract you from that route). If the owner objects to you kicking their dog they should have it under control (and if we ever again meet those 3 staffies/bull terriers which were running riot while their owner called pathetically from a distance (which almost knocked me flying and did knock Fred flying so much so he's now nervous around other dogs) I think I probably will!). Sorry for the rant.

[Anniemurph Graduate]

That's terrible - being bitten by a dog. I'm glad you're going to report it.

In terms of the run - fantastic that you ran for an hour - oh, plus the minute of course I have this theory that hearing Laura again puts us into an 'achievement mode' of thinking. We know we have achieved c25k so as soon as we hear Laura our doubts go away again But it was you that did it so congratulations to you

[marc_read Graduate]

I had a dog incident last week. Mine was a young dog and it only nipped me rather than a full bite. But even so I was not at all happy in the end I stopped running after it did it for the second time and faced the dog down. Only a little dog, but still should have been kept on the lead as clearly was not trained or under control. The owner was not in a great hurry to control his dog and do not believe he fully understood that his dog nipping me was not acceptable.

I think if it had bitten me I would have taken a lot more action.

Congratulations on the run though.