I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- Supposed to run trails with Justin, but a sick kid and stressed wife left me needing to do a quick run from home and get home 3 hrs earlier (sorry, Justin).  Ran some of the back country roads near my house.  I did find a nice ATV trail for a mile or so, though.  A few observations:

• There's a lot of empty beer cans on the side of all the roads
• Watching the sunrise over the hills is awesome.  Some hilly, beautiful terrain around Greenville.
• People really need to control their dogs.  I had a dog charge me and kept snapping and growling, while the owner stood right there and LECTURED me about how the dog was acting that way cause I stopped running (rather than run into it), so it viewed me as weak prey.  She never grabbed the dog, so I had to slowly make my way for 100 ft till the dog turned around.  CONTROL YOUR ANIMALS, people.  No, it doesn't make the runner feel any better to tell them, "He's a nice dog.  He won't hurt you."  Especially if the dog is growling with his hair standing up as you say that.  Next time, I'm just gonna kick the dog.  Hard.  If you won't grab your dog, I'll take care of it for you.  The situation would have been better if the owner wasn't there, cause then I would have dealt with it myself rather than trying to talk to the lady while fending off her dog.

Finished with 19 mile in about 2:20 with 1200 ft climbing and loss.  Pushed pretty hard the last 6 miles, with the last 4 sub-7 and some sub-6 pace stuff.  Good run.  My highest mileage week since before Labor Day.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  Hope you and your family have a wonderful day.