She's Back! (Again)

Distance Run: 3.13 miles
Time: 31:05
Pace: 9:56 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Abby's back!
Most Inspiring Moment: Abby's back!

After three weeks of solo runs, I decided to bring back my partner!

I'd been leaving her at home for a few reasons. First: it is cold. Despite her fur coat, Abby doesn't love negative-20-degree winds (who does?), and I have to be really careful with her when there's snow on the ground. Not only do I not enjoy running on ice while being attached to a creature who just saw a squirrel twenty yards away, but snow leads to salt which leads to hurt paws and a whimpering dog begging to be carried home (and my back isn't up for that anymore).

Secondly, Abby is not really what I would call a...focused runner. Squirrels, dogs, other runners, bits of trash--it's all worth a closer inspection. This means I also need to pay attention to anything that could possibly distract her (which is everything), which requires more mental energy than I'm willing to expend at 7AM.

So, it was not really a tough decision to head out solo.

But! I miss my pup! And she could use the exercise:

So off we went!

Oh man, we were like some poorly-assembled six-legged creature. I don't know if in her three-week vacation, Abby forgot how to run? But we were a mess out there. On the one hand, I had one of my fastest runs ever because Abby does not believe in pacing herself and I was trying to keep up with her* but I also almost stepped on her and fell on my butt, like, every other step.

I'm not even sure how the run went because the whole time I was out there I was pretty much thinking "How is the dog?" I came home sooner than expected but mentally exhausted and glad I didn't break an ankle.

Because I am officially an Old Person, I'm veeeeery nervous that I'm going to twist/sprain/break something before April and end my marathon dreams. So, Abby might be going back on hiatus until she can run on the leash a little more solidly (which won't be forever! she has a trainer. we're working on it).

Is that sad news? Let's look at something happy. Hey! Here's the baby reading a book to the puppy!

That's better.


*The pace recorded above is in no way accurate. I started it the second I left the house so it was going while Abby had her first pit stop. Given my (rudimentary and most likely incorrect) calculations, my pace was closer to 9ish minutes/mile.