Lions and Dogs and Goats... Oh My!

Yesterday E and I went for a walk around my neighborhood. Um... it must have been a full moon last night because the dogs were WILD. On one block, a collie literally threw itself against the fence to try to get at us (and we were on the other side of the street) and next door, a big black lab mix got himself into a barking frenzy. Next block over, a huge brown dog who was in his yard with no fence and not on a leash also barked at us until his owner walked over to the door and told him to shut up. On the other side of our loop, a brown lab came up and sniffed at us, and seemed kind of skittish. And a terrier basically ignored us as he crossed the street on his own. Um... where are these dogs' owners?? Seriously, do people just let their dogs wander around like this?? The best part of the walk was when the goats were loose. Yes, those darn neighborhood goats. So on my way home, I tried to avoid the eye of the billy goat whose head comes to my shoulders. Getting rammed by a goat is not something that I want to experience in my life time.

Today, I went to the gym. I've decided to start a routine in order to get me back on track fitness-wise. This is what I plan on doing:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 30 minute run, weights for arms and legs
Tuesday and Thursday: 45 minutes of cardio on various machines (elliptical, stairmaster, rower) and abs
Saturday: Whatever I feel like doing!
Sunday: OFF

It's similar to what I was doing before the ill-fated month of July, and plus I won't be at the gym for longer than two hours each day. Completely doable. Today, I started back on the C25K program since it's been so long since I ran that I don't want to hurt myself. I started back on Week 5, Day 1, which is a 5 minute warm up, then three intervals of a five minute run followed by a three minute walk, and then a cool down. I kicked up the intensity on the treadmill by running at a faster speed. I was so proud of myself for getting through 2.5 of the intervals at that speed... the last 2 minutes of my last interval was at a slower pace, but I'd rather make it through the interval than just quit. Wednesday's run is 8 minute intervals, so I'm going to make sure that I can just keep chugging through this. Weeks 7, 8, and 9 are timed runs, not intervals, so I want to ease into that transition than just failing miserably by trying to get my butt going for 20 minutes straight the first time out of the gate.