14km, the hard way

The past few days I have felt less than 100%, I inherited my girlfriends cold from her visit over the weekend. I did my best to self negotiate why I shouldn't go out but I couldn't seal the deal. The weather here today was 11C but a strong southeasterly wind, around 25kph. I bundled up and headed out. I ran a very familiar loop, eastward, which is more difficult as the hills are concentrated toward the middle and end of the run. I ran through town and had "Running Etiquette" on my mind as I weaved in and out of commuters taking up the whole sidewalk. One old guy had the balls to stand his ground (I am 6'1, 225, he was 5' 8, 140) I dealt him a glancing blow and just couldn't figure it out. When I got to some clearer space, I picked up my pace as the wind wasn't in my face as of yet. My mind thought of work as I passed by where I used to work and the shop where we get our salmon from. I turned the corner and braced for the wind. I ran headlong into it for a couple of km's just past my parents place to where is shifted to a more southerly track. As I ran along the water, I got picked off by three people that carried a quick pace and I tried to fight the urge to go with them, I was only at 6k and had alot of hills still to come and wasn't feeling all that shit hot. So I let them go and focused on all the people and their bloody dogs. The thing I realized today is that it isn't the dogs that are the problem, a dog will move out of your way if you are heading right towards him, strangely people will not. So, I'll take the dogs over the owners. I suffered when I reached the hills, considered walking or stopping but carried on, knowing it was only a couple of km home. The wind wasn't an issue any longer so I picked up the pace best I could for a 1:11:36 ~ 14km, 5:06km pace. I use the Nike+ipod system and am really impressed at the ease and accuracy of it. Next up, 6km on Friday, see you then.
Christian