The ideal summer

So, after a week or so of descending into Ottawa summer temps (reminded me of those hottest couple of weeks in July), we have sunk even lower into my preferred summer climate this weekend.  Lows around 12 C, highs around 25 C.   Love it!  I have spent many (most?) of my waking hours outside.  It is such a treat to sit in the backyard and not be sweating like a stuck hog.

Anyway, I failed to wake up "early" and the dog and I headed out around 10:30 am.  I packed my ID and snacks into my backpack and we ran onto post.

Lately, the dog has been receiving a lot of compliments, and he got another one from the guard that checked my card.  I hope this attention doesn't go to his head.

I wasn't sure how far we'd run; I was hoping for at least 15 miles.  The weather was good, but I wasn't sure if it would still be too hot for the dog, and I wasn't sure how tired I'd be after yesterday's hill.  I like to do some long runs in a tired state so that others seem easier in comparison, but this would be the first time I'd attempted a long run the day after the hill.  There is another hill nearly as tall on post, but the ascent and descent are much more gradual and undulating; I'd already decided to walk up the steepest portions.  It's all about time on my feet!

Unfortunately, my backpack became a bit of a problem.  I have worn it during longer runs, including my longest run ever (over 31 miles), but always with a sleeved shirt, I suppose.  Today's choice of a tank top wasn't suitable.  As well, I forgot to apply bodyglide.  So lots of tugging cloth back into place occurred.  My neck was starting to feel rubbed raw.

And the dog, that terrible little turd, dropped namesakes in the worst place possible.  We'd passed umpteen trash cans and umpteen semi-deserted stretches with high grass (either one works), and then after about a 1/2 mile of mostly uphill road and no trash cans, he stops in a little triangular patch of very manicured grass between some roads and in front of the 'fancy' restaurant on post.  No trash cans anywhere, just a recycling bin, and I'm not that low.  Do I go back down the hill?  No, surely the airfield up ahead has trash bins.  If so, then maybe we'd run around it because that's the flattest place for miles.

It had more of the recycling bins but nothing for trash.

We headed to a warehouse with an outdoor water spigot; I wanted to refill my water bottle and douse the dog a bit (not out of retaliation, but to keep him cool), and surely there would be a trash bin there.   No, just another recycling bin.  Kudos, but...

At this point, I've carried poop for over a mile.  It stinks and seems to be liquefying.  The bag is fairly opaque white so the visual isn't too bad, but the once solid matter is gradually coating the inside surface uniformly.  I'm fed up.  I double bag it and put it in an outside mesh pocket of my backpack.  The dog starts to get anxious because I'm upset.  I think this is when the run started to go downhill, but we actually had to go uphill, even worse.

Fortunately, the prisoner cemetery about a half mile further up had a trash bin!  Everlasting peace for everyone.

We still had more uphill, we walked a bit.  There are some ranges back there (not facing the road, of course) that were being used.  The dog didn't like the noise of gunfire.  I missed the turn off for the forest trails.  Maybe they would have been too soggy anyway, or filled with horses on this fine day.   The dog isn't a huge fan of horses, although I think it's the clip-cloppy noisy ones on asphalt that he objects to because he doesn't seem to mind the ones on dirt.  Some of them don't like him, though.  Actually, the horses are officially prohibited on that trail, but they help keep it clear so nobody complains.  That's pretty much the ethos that I like about running on most posts: there are places that are restricted and locked down, and other places, especially housing areas, have a lot of rules, but there can be a surprisingly lot of latitude in other places, particularly those underdeveloped or semi-abandoned stretches.  I can help myself to drinking water, I can take my shirt off and run in my running bra, I can stretch out on a patch of lawn, I can run around and around without any questions asked and without worrying too much about getting hit by a car or getting chased by dogs or getting hassled.   This is pretty much like home (although, at home, it's a lot easier to get food on the go), but not like some parts of the US I've been to. This town we're in now isn't bad at all, actually, but our previous two US postings were subpar.

Eventually, we got to coast down and off the post.  11 miles by the time we got home.  I decided to run 4-5 more on the TM.

And the power went out after about 3 miles.

There was nothing left to do except sit in a hot bath and eat!  It was lovely.