I promise I'll be good!!

If Blue could talk that must have been what he was telling me. Why? Because I actually took him RUNNING with me last night. The reason this is surprising is because about 3-4 weeks ago I swore off running with him. He was still pulling hard, barking badly at little dogs and people and chasing squirrels and just generally being a pain in the ass! The day I came back from a run actually angry was the day I said I'm not taking him anymore. I run to feel good, not bad. Which is SAD. I LOVE to take him running and he loves to go running.

Enter the crap weather we had yesterday. Now don't get me wrong this has been the BEST WINTER EVER for running outdoors and dog walking. No snow, not really all that cold, a couple crappy days . . . I'm not complaining! But yesterday it just so happened that I really NEEDED to run. I couldn't put it off but I really wanted to. It had snowed during the day, wet snow that stayed on the ground just deep enough that you splash slush onto your other foot as you run, you know what I talking about. And it was windy. I didn't want to run. I almost wasn't going to. But along my drive I convinced myself I really should run. By the time I was home it was actually a hard drizzle and with the wind it just wasn't pretty. But I knew that no matter what I had to walk the dog and since I needed to run FOR SURE then I should just combine the two, suck it up, take Blue and hope for the best.

Blue was excited to go. I think he was slightly confused. He knew I was putting on the running gear which is different from the walking gear. So he seemed to sit calmly waiting. I think he wondered if he was actually going to get to go. Then I grabbed the choke chain collar - no way I was going with regular collar. Got him all set up. Got me all set up. Off we went.

We hit the first part of my path along which we encounter two little dogs. I run off the path onto the grass to avoid the first one. The second one, the lady is WATCHING us run towards her. As I get closer, I begin telling Blue - NO, NO. The lady can hear me - she still lets her dog cross the path to come towards Blue as if we are going to stop to meet. WTF?? Sometimes people irk me.

We continue along and fall into a nice rhythm. Blue is running nicely on his leash - not pulling. I'm confused. I keep waiting for this dream to end. It doesn't, he keeps running nicely. He's out in front of me a bit and he leads, taking the turns on his own, every single turn exactly where we need to go. This is NOT a daily walk or run. It's a monthly one. I'm so proud of him. We finish the run on a high note and I get back to the house
raving about the run.

What bad weather? All I noticed was my great dog.

6 months later - wow!!

Today was a run day. It’s been a long time since I’ve run and even longer since I've run with Blue for many reasons. He is walked twice a day so he’s still getting his exercise but it’s absolutely amazing how much this dog can run. He will run and run and run. Get home and look for balls to play with. He’s never looking to lay down and nap. He wasn’t too bad today. Not chasing too much but then again dead of winter, there isn’t too much to chase. Still pulling on the leash pretty bad but since his mommy hasn’t trained him properly, she can hardly complain. Plus it keeps her biceps lean and strong ;-)

We ran 6 km today – no problem. He would have gone longer. It’s me that has to take it easy and make sure I don’t overdo it – too much too soon.  We did run one other day last week in the wee hours of the morning. Just a 4k-ish run.  This is something I “could” potentially do everyday . . . since I’m walking him anyway why not just run?? Well that’s a wonderful thought in theory but putting into practice is a whole other matter. It’s easy to drag yourself out of bed at 5:30-6 a.m. and know you’re just going to meander slowly around the neighbourhood. It’s a whole other matter to put in the energy required to RUN! Lol

But my goal is to run twice a week in the mornings. And then ball hockey Wednesday nights for now. Longer runs Sunday mornings. The plan is there in my head. Just need to ensure that the body is following . . . “They” say your mind is in control . . .

So let’s see what happens this week. A Tuesday and Friday morning run . . .  I’ll let you know how it goes.

I know it has been a week or two since I last posted but I have been running :-)  Oops - try 4 weeks!! wow

I mean "WE" have been running. Blue is beside me for all runs except one group run. He runs the early a.m. with me, just the two of us lonely early birds. He runs with a group of ladies on Sunday mornings in the trail. Distance doesn't phase him, heat doesn't seem to phase him. We drink from the same water bottle lol. I just squirt it towards his mouth and he laps it up! Through the trail, I always try to stop in the river for a few minutes and let him get wet, then we continue on.

I figure he can basically take whatever I can. He walks when I walk, drinks when I drink. Plus I'm running at 60-70% of my capacity and he's probably running at about 20% of his capacity! The dog is FAST! But not when we run together. He basically just gets to trot along beside me.

I love having Blue to run with. He makes me get up when I don't want to. Like today, he gets my butt out of bed and out the door at 5:45 a.m. because I wanted to make sure we ran before the sun came up and it got too hot. He was going to be stuck inside all day and I wanted him to get a good run in. Ends up it wasn't too good. Well for me anyway . . . it was still hot. 26 degrees celcius when I got back in the door - I have no idea what it was with the humidity . . .

At about 20 minutes of running I realized I was breathing heavily which I shouldn't have been considering the slow pace I was running at. And it was hard. My body was not in favour of running this morning. So I cut it short to 26 minutes and walked the 5 mins home. So definitely the stifling heat and humidity was a factor this morning. I always wonder if getting out of bed and 15 mins later start running without really getting the blood moving has an effect on my legs. They have been feeling so heavy lately. I guess it doesn't because on the weekends I am usually up for at least an hour before running and I've already walked the dog for 20 minutes. Damn I was looking for the easy excuse.

So tomorrow I'll we'll be running a trail we've never done before. It's only 4.2 kms and I wanted to run 10 km. I'm going to settle for looping it twice - 8.4 kms.

I hope.

I will be running past the swimming lake and my campsite and my breakfast and my morning "drink" . . . hopefully my body and I will be happy enough to do the second loop!

Happy Trails everyone!! Keep cool!

YEA! WE RAN!

So I've been putting off running. Mentally I just couldn't do it. I'd think about it. I'd plan it. But when it came time to actually run . . . I'd have a reason not to. Or I'd run "out of time" (conveniently).

I ran with the ladies a couple times without Blue. Then on Sunday I went for a run with my brother and took Blue. All things considered, it was a good run. I haven't taken Blue for over one month so this was definitely good.

We had a couple of quick things. A bunny. A squirrel. Two dogs - at separate times.

The only other issue I really had was that he wouldn't run on the grass and let my brother and I have the sidewalk, lol.  He insisted on running on the sidewalk. I'd move him over and he'd come right back beside me, just in front. So I was either kicking his heels or tripping on them.

We ran 5.5 kms. Got back home and Blue immediately went for his toys and asking us to play!  Geez take a rest!!

I should either run tonight or tomorrow again . . . I already don't want to tonight lol. Not that I understand this thinking because I LOVE running while I'm doing it and after. It's just the before. Blah.

Who Knew . . .

Dogs get injuries too.

Between my busy schedule and adjusting to it and then Blue hurting himself in the pursuit of a CAT! We have not gone running since April 29th.

My schedule for the past two weeks was to adjust to playing ball hockey and 2 baseball teams and life. The beginning of the summer sports season is always very busy but a couple weeks in and it all falls into place. So while I was adjusting, I decided to leave running out of the equation for a week. Which would bring us to this week . . . I would have started running again soon.

Then we went to Muskoka on the weekend. Absolutely beautiful! Gorgeous weekend, perfect weather. Blue got to play with a new friend . . . a big white german shepherd, Kota.

They had a great time together running and playing and wrestling. Blue was off leash the entire time. He never ran off property or onto the road or anything. He was great!

Kota's family also has 2 cats.  Blue still hasn't really spent time with OUR own cats yet because he treats them like prey. When he sees them, he chases them like he does squirrels and rabbits. So . . . Blue chased these 2 poor cats in Muskoka around the yard, thru the garage and in the house. He did this only a couple times because we caught him and stopped it. Sunday morning, a couple hours outside, all of a sudden Blue takes off barking like crazy. We all turn to see what's happening and swoosh goes a flash of grey and white cat across the yard, under the porch with Blue flying behind barking his crazy bark. Out comes the cat from the opposite side of the porch crawl space and Blue starts yelping in pain, comes out and stops dead with his back paw in the air. The cat continues on his way safely. Funny Blue no longer cared about the cat  . . .

I go to get him to find that he's not bleeding but has sliced a piece of his pad 1/2 off. So he has a nice little flap of pad . . . Yuck. So we wash him up, clean it out and put Polysporin on it. Instead of bandaging it up, I put my sock on his foot and taped that to his leg. This way it stays somewhat clean and still has airflow. He didn't walk on it for the rest of the day. He went outside looking sad and laid down. Kota kept bugging him to come play. It was a sad day. Blue stayed in this state for a day.

By Tuesday Blue was raring to go again all happy and wanting to go, go, go but we kept him as still as possible, no playing ball :-( , no walks. We took him out Tuesday night to Kevin's ball games but that is mostly sitting still anyway.

After the ball game, we got home and I took off the sock, checked out his pad. Nice colour, all clean, drying up nicely. The flap of pad skin that he had is no longer a flap but a small chunk of dried up pad. So out come the scissors and snip  . . . off comes the piece of skin. Right as rain. Blue jumped up and grabbed his ball, dropped it at our feet and waited . . . But we still said no.

Going to wait a bit for the pad to heal up some more before we use it intently.  :-)

So until then, I'll be running on my own for a few more days . . .

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.

Speedwork and Nine Kms

This week was a pretty eventful week. Wasn't exactly how I thought it would go.

Tuesday a.m. Blue and I did a regular little run. Our 3 km walk route only we ran it instead. I have no stories - it was uneventful.

"Little D" and I made plans to run together both Thursday night and Saturday a.m. (Little D - wink, wink - remember Nigel! This was a nickname given to D last year during our marathon training clinic.)

Thursday night being our regular "speedwork" night at the track after work. Saturday would be a "long run" - really long for her and not so much for me. Little D is training for a half marathon. I am not - I am running for "fun". So I asked D if I could bring Blue along for our long run. She gladly agreed. I reminded her that he was doing a lot of stopping and starting and if it was a problem, we wouldn't take him next time.

Anyway . . . along comes Thursday . . . D has to cancel or make it later. Later wasn't really good for me so I told her to go during the day without me and we wouldn't get together this time. So while sitting at work pondering what to do, I realize that I can just go home, get the dog and do the speedwork at the high school track nearby. Then we will both benefit. So off we go. It's early  . . . 5:30 p.m. I know  we are going to meet quite a few people along the paths at this time but whatever . . . Blue needs to learn to adjust.

We meet up with a few "off leash" dogs in a little clearing about 200 metres from our house. That's fine. We stop and play for a couple minutes and then head off.  We meet up with a couple people and dogs but it's the squirrels that seem to be capturing his attention.

There are quite a few out there. Running around, jumping branches, fences. Once again I tell Blue "NO, leave it, leave it."  Blue whines at me and pulls the other way. Good boy I tell him. We continue and we eventually make it to the track. WELL . . . what I see is not what I want to run in! The track is mostly lakes - not puddles but lakes! and there are mounds of dirt and grass all over. I'm not sure if they are going to fill this in or why all that dirt and grass is there. Doesn't really matter anyway because there is no way I am running on that  track!

So I decide that I will just do hill training instead. Similar function in the end - Building leg strength. So we continue for a few minutes to the "hill". We end up doing 4 repeats - AWESOME! I'm proud of myself and proud of Blue. He actually did really well with me on the hills. He seemed to "like" them. It's probably the extra exertion he liked! So off we go home. This is where the trouble starts . . .

We meet up with two dogs along the way. Blue seems a little more strung out than usual after running past them. To make matters worse there are a lot of squirrels. They are driving him crazy - think about Bob Murray and the groundhog in Caddy Shack . . . Blue is trying to run after all of them. Doesn't really matter what I am saying at this point - he's yanking my arm off! We get 1/2 km from home when up ahead are two older ladies and their three little fluffy dogs. Ok no problem.  I try to talk Blue through it to keep running . . . Nope, he drops. Heavily. Not moving. He's waiting for the other dogs to get into range. I look up at the ladies - they aren't walking they are CRAWLING!! Oh no, this is going to take forever! They take a few steps, pause, take a few more steps, pause. OMG I think I'm going to die. I feel like picking Blue up in my arms and walking past them that way! I wait patiently - YES I'm saying patiently. Finally they make it close . . . well I guess the build up was more than Blue could handle - he LOSES IT! SNAPS! Barks like a crazy dog, lunging, not listening to me at all. I struggle with him on the ground trying to keep him from jumping. The ladies look at us in shock. I'm a terrible owner and Blue is a vicious dog. Yup, I'm sure I heard them say that. I kknow  that's what they were thinking.

So I pick Blue up - he continues to bark! What!! He always goes calm when you pick him up?? I get away from the ladies and their foofoo dogs and put him down. I am SO mad and frustrated. That seemed to come out of the blue (no pun intended). I just never expected that! So I walk instead. We are done and I am not running the rest of the way home. I walk him, in the heel position, the rest of the way home. I don't let him roam at all. I am seething from that episode. I feel bad but so frustrated! lol.

All I can think is . . . running is supposed to relieve my stress NOT PRODUCE IT!!  What a day!

Well . . . that post was WAAAYYYY longer than I thought so I'll have to leave the "Nine Kms" part of this for another post.