Hmmmm . . ..

Sorry people, my life is busier than I think. Everyone who knows me is rolling their eyes at that comment. You are all thinking - uh ya, dumbass, WE all know this.

My week has been hectic and it will just continue to get worse as the weeks pass. I will make an effort to try to get to my writing on a timely basis.

On that note . . . Back to my 9 km last Saturday . . . which was originally planned as a 6ish km run for Blue and I . . .

Little D and I made arrangements to meet outside my house at 10 a.m. So I took Blue for a quick walk first hoping to work out some of his kinks and give me my walking warm up that I love to get in. Then we met D and headed off down the trail in the opposite direction towards the high school.

A few hundred metres down that trail I saw a couple dogs off leash up ahead. I told D to go ahead and I'd catch up because I knew Blue would stop. We stopped for a few seconds. The lady was apologizing about the dog being off leash  "he got out of the house and I can't catch him". I stood still with Blue for an extra minute hoping to lure the other dog so it's owner could grab him. She didn't get him and I continued on my way.

Blue had a few squirrel lunges but for the most part was well behaved. In fact, this entire run was so uneventful that I wondered silently what was going on?? We finished off the trail and headed up onto the sidewalk. People, cars, squirrels, dogs . . . not much was bothering him. The odd pull at a squirrel or stopping for a minute for people but that was it. Hmmmm . . . . I was really enjoying this run and it seemed Blue was too!

We ended up back on a trail in a section we had never run before. Really nice and woody - wouldn't know you were in the city! I love it when I hit trails like that - makes my runs even better. Had a few intense hills but no problem. :-)

Before we knew it we were on the trail back towards my house. Heading towards the same area with the loose dog . . . and looky there! STILL LOOSE!  It was about 1/2 an hour later. The lady is still loitering on the path with her dog running around her. I am thinking WHAT!?? How can you not have gotten your dog yet? So once again D keeps going and I stop. I asked the lady - didn't you bring treats out? "Oh yes," she says, "but I've already used them all."  I'm thinking  "How did you give the dog treats and not grab him by the scruff of his neck" (btw no collar on the dog - its in her hand).  So I ask her if I can try with my treats (just kibble - all natural). She says yes. So I pull out a handful of treats, tell her to get ready and tell Blue to sit. Her dog is hovering around and I make sure he's watching when I give Blue a couple of the treats. The dog comes over and now both he and Blue are sniffing at my closed hand trying to get treats as I let one out at a time. She finally gets ahold of him. I wait for her to get the collar on him and say "See Ya".  Really?? really?  I just shake my head at things like that.

So off I go to catch up to Little D. I'm feeling really good at this point and Blue seems to be fine and enjoying himself so we continue with D instead of stopping. We drop her off at a point about a kilometre away and she continues the rest of her run home. Blue and I stopped and walked our way back home. Nice cool down walk. Beautiful run. Beautiful weather. Beautiful run.

I am hopeful.