Unmanly Men

Yet another reason to avoid pavement:

Last night on my run, I encounter several "Manly Men"

1. Guy jogging with two little dogs, slows to a walk. And by little, I mean our 16 pound cat was easily bigger than both of them. I smile and nod, he avoids making eye contact. I trot by in the other direction at an easy 9:30 min/mile. About 3 minutes later, he comes running past me, the two little dogs working their legs as fast at they can to try to keep up. The littlest one was practically being dragged. Once he was two blocks past me, he turned into an apartment complex and walks. Poor dogs. They clearly are not used to running that fast, nor have the stride length to do it.

2. I heard two runners approaching from behind. Their conversation was something about soccer practice and kids until they were within feet of me. Then the conversation suddenly changed and went something like this (along with a general increase in volume):

Manly Man 1 "My St. Patrick's Day run was so much faster than I had planned!"
Manly Man 2 "Yeah, me too. I couldn't believe I set another PR this year!"
Manly Man 1 "I'm just so used to having to run up and down hills and that course was just too easy for me!"

I had caught a little of the previous conversation, so I was curious if this last part was a genuine change in conversation or for my benefit. As they ran ahead, I did managed to hear "...so nice when one of them has their license."

But the topping on the cake was that when the ran past, I noticed they were wearing matching running jackets and black tights! One had on capri-length tights even! I hope they were on some kind of team, but guessing at their ages, I doubt it.

No man should wear capri-length anything. And please be kind to little dogs with 6" long legs. I am not impressed by your speed when your little terrier is bouncing along the pavement behind you. I prefer my men covered in mud.

I did manage to put in 12 miles last night. Pavement sucks.