Night Run Success

Finally! We went running and it was dark and there could have been mountain lions and bears and we ran anyway. Ran, not even hiking this time. We started in daylight - a bonus, since we got to find our rhythm before we couldn't see, and I need to get over the "sun's down, nap time" thing I had at Headlands. T's family is dog sitting our friends' two large rhodesian ridgebacks, so we took them.

Asanti (nearest me) and Puccini

In Africa they were bred to protect livestock from lions, so they can protect us too, right? Plus they are big dogs used to running wherever they want (they live on a 300+ acre ranch), currently sharing an average size yard with four other dogs. They definitely enjoyed the leg stretch. Asanti, the younger of the two, nearly knocked me to the ground when he brushed past me bounding over to say hi - to give you an idea of their size and strength. They are used to going riding and hiking with their people, so this was a same-but-different experience for them. They did great though:

We made it to the top of the ridge before the sun went down. Photos, particularly crappy phone photos, really don't do this sunset justice, but we tried:

Standing beneath redwoods watching the sun set over the ocean? Don't worry, I know how lucky I am :) Of course, we then realised we'd been wasting time trying to get pretty pictures and there was WILDLIFE out here. And now it was dark. Luckily, we both now have 'stabby torches':

Which work really well if you want to take creepy-face pictures:

Then we were off and running, literally. Running in the dark with our borrowed bounding elephant-dog hybrids. Neither of us fell down. We didn't get eaten. We didn't even get scared. Maybe the possibility of night running and maybe possibly one day being able to run well enough in the dark to do a hundred miler. Maybe I won't crawl under a rock and retreat to my happy place. Wheeee!

(NB: T says 'look at those hocks')