Up the Mountain

I recently got back into a running regiment.  I have been running for about the past two years now, but every time I transition from one home to another it throws off my grove.  It took a bit longer this time, but I am finally back.

There is a lot of construction in our neighborhood, so I have to be careful.  I have also discovered that there are a lot more stray dogs that I once thought.  On on run I found myself running head on into a pack of about 7 or 8 strays in the middle of the road.  The leader looked directly at me.  I knew he was trying to figure out if I was going to feed him or threaten his turf.  I stared him down and kept running straight at him.  I was a bit concerned that he might give the order to attack, but I knew that from his vantage point there was a 215 pound animal of some sort running at him at charging speed in black and white (because dogs see everything in black and white).  He and his crew quickly beat feet and scattered into the surrounding bushes and rubble.

Though I don't mind the dogs too much, I decided to take a different route today just in case they figure out that 7 or 8 dogs is a match for one unarmed man no matter what his size.  I decided that rather than running into the city, I would try to run out of it.  We have a huge dormant volcano just south of the city, and our house is located on the lower part of the slope.  If I start running toward the edge of the city (which is several kilometers away) I run up hill and toward nature.  I have not made it yet, but I am hoping that the day will come when I can find the southern edge of Sofia and run myself out of town.