Toots and Sally Ride Again

I’ve never run this trail so hard or so fast. Tonight was a lesson in trust- in myself and my faithful furry running companion. I went to Jensen Lake, didn’t pay enough attention to the darkening sky. Started running, having just realized how frigging dark it was out. G took off like a shot, but then kept turning around after we went around this one bend. I thought she was just excited about the geese, but she wasn’t looking up at them at all. I stopped to see what was going on, and she stared back at full alert which almost always means there’s something there. After I tugged on her a few times to start her up (there was NO WAY I was waiting to see who or what was coming), she sprinted the whole rest of the way, once again at full alert the whole time. She doesn’t usually scan the woods like she was this evening. I was scared, but not in a terror-stricken kind of way. I just trust my dog, and know there was something there, and I learned really, really fast how to sprint in the dark on trail. I knew I had to stay upright, because I didn’t know if I’d be able to get up and I didn’t bring my cell phone. I actually feel shaken up right now. Guinness doesn’t lie, you know? I trust her instinct, and I trust my instinct, and while I sensed lurking danger, I was fairly certain she/I/we would/could handle it. I’m going to have pizza now. And a glass. And hug my dog.