AM - woke up at about 5:00, planned on doing 3 miles on my own, then 2 miles with Sparky. Got going and felt good, nice easy pace. However, just before I hit my turnaround point slightly after 1.5 miles, I had major scary experience where I saw (again) what looked very much like a mountain lion. It was crossing through an open lot at the NE corner of Sossaman and Guadalupe. I turned around and hightailed it out of there. Probably the fastest mile I have run in a while. At one point I was hitting about 5:30 pace, totally pumped full of adrenaline, and then the fatigue started to set in. Although the Garmin is currently set to autolap only at mile intervals, I had about a mile or so where I was right around 6:00 pace. Finally got myself calmed down, slowed down and cooled down the last 1/4 mile. Then I took Sparky out for what was supposed to be 2 miles, but I was still feeling so paranoid that after 1 mile I called it quits. Makes me want to go out and buy something to be able to protect myself with. I dunno - I'm not thinking too rationally right now, but I am also not feeling particularly inclined to run in that direction for a while. Will plan on a couple more miles this evening if possible. | 