A run changes all - well not all, but a lot.

If you turn right out of our driveway, then turn right at any road you meet, it'll take you just a little over 5.5 km to return to our driveway. I can run that!!! I'm excited because I've never been much of a runner. Even in highschool when I was playing basketball 7 days a week I didn't have wind to run any distance. About four weeks ago I got sick with a cold that left me coughing for two weeks. I hardly had breath to cross the room, let alone run anywhere. Last week I tried to run "around the block" and it didn't kill me! (was actually surprized at this fact). That was Thursday. Between work and life committments, I didn't manage another run until today, and I really felt it - my anxiety went into overdrive, my patience was nil and my frustration level at the brink of spontaneous combustion.

Tonight I took Sam and ran the block again. For those of you who don't know Samantha, she's 40lbs of muscle. She's a lab / whippet mix, which means she is either asleep or insane. She sleeps to build energy for the moments in the day that something thrilling happens - like someone coming to the door. We ran the block in just under 40 minutes. She pulled the ENTIRE way. I figured she'd pull at the beginning and start to fade. After all, I've been "training" (that's a fun word to use) since the beginning of January so it took me over four months to work up to this feat. She ran the whole time, pulling me along to keep up. When I stopped to walk for a moment she jumped and pulled even more. She'd make a good running partner to keep me on pace! I think I'll try to take Rookie with me. He's pretty much the opposite of Sam, so laid back and easy going... He'll fetch a stick exactly three times before deciding it's not worth the energy he spends to do so. I think we'll have to work up to his run.

N