Welcome To The Neighborhood

The temperature was perfect. The lack of humidity was perfect. The day was perfect for running. And it was going to be the first time running in my new neighborhood.


As I was walking out the door, Justin asked, "You gonna carry some pepper spray with you, just in case a dog comes after you?"


"Whatever. I'll be fine."


And for the first mile, everything was great. I was making good time. I was waving to neighbors I haven't met, yet. Freely calling out "good morning" to anyone that was outside. Life was good.


I topped a hill, waved to a man and his son, noticed a little girl in the next yard, and was then scared out of my mind. A humongous, Kujo looking Rottweiler came out of nowhere, jumped on me, and bit my arm. I screamed, jerked back, and seriously questioned the whole running in the neighborhood thing.


The man across the street saw the whole thing, came over to check on me, and tried to explain that he had never seen "Sampson" do anything like that. I looked at my arm, and showed him the puncture mark. It didn't break the skin or anything but still- it hurt.

When I got home and told Justin and my parents what happened, they insisted I call and report it. Then my mom and I went to the house where it happened. The lady was leaving as we pulled up. I went over to her and explained what happened.

She was super nice and apologetic. The man who saw the whole thing had actually already gone over and told her about it. She claimed that it had never happened before and I'm inclined to believe her. She has small children and they were outside with the dog when it happened. I think I probably scared it and it was protecting his family. Who knows.

I do know that if it had wanted to hurt me, it could have. Badly.

And that scares me.