Flagstaff has been awesome. I won't lie, it did take me a few days to become adjusted to the 7000ft altitude. My early runs would include harder breathing and a higher heart rate even though it was a much slower pace. Not to mention being occasionally light headed upon finishing. 60 minute runs would wear me out and I wondered how I was going to get through a long run; however, as the days passed, things progressively got easier.
I can now say that I am thoroughly enjoying my runs. Then again, I have not attempted a workout yet so I may change my mind again after tomorrow. Days are literally spent running, eating, sleeping, relaxing, getting groceries etc. Very minimal activity which means I am getting lots of recovery time. This is my dream!
Today when Marilyn and I were out for a run we came across a herd of sheep along with their protective sheep dogs. A few days ago while also running with Alicia, she told us about these situations where she has actually been chased by these dogs and was unable to outrun them. She stated that she was quite frightened as they can be quite vicious.
So today we were running and about just over half way through our run we ran into the dogs on the trail. I stopped dead in my tracks and was sure they were the dogs we had been warned up. The only thing was, we couldn't see any sheep. Through the trees I wasn't sure if they were sheep or rocks.
Sheep dogs
Sheep or rocks?
Marilyn decided to be the sacrificial lamb basically and ran off towards the dogs while I waited back. We joked after that we sacrificed the elder as she had lived a longer life than I. Mar got by pretty easy and the dogs didn't really pay attention so I ran along and joined her. As we rounded the corner we ran into the flock of sheep. They were pretty good and moved off to the right. We stopped and took a few pictures.
Sacrifice
Sheep
Just as we almost cleared the flock, a third dog came upon us and this one was a tiny bit more aggressive by barking and coming towards us. We did as Alicia said and yelled "Go back to the sheep" in which the dogs left us alone and we continued along the way. Mar was calm as hell, but I on the other hand noticed that my heart rate went up more than a few beats.
In the end, we survived and went on to finish our enjoyable run.
The weather here has been a mix. Usually sun in the morning and then a thunder storm in the early evening. We had light rain which a short downpour for our long run yesterday. I would definitely take this weather over the "heatwave" back home.
Various trail/road shots
Long run done partly on this
and this (didn't have camera with me for the single track stuff)
Today's run adventure
Playing around taking photos
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