Running with TWO Dogs

So when I started this blog, there was only one - Penelope. Hence, the title.

Well as I've mentioned, we've since added to the pack. And it turns out, although Penelope will always be my special running partner, Lela may turn out to be the better runner.

She is bigger than Penelope and as a German Shepherd she can just go and go and go.

She is stronger though and I'm hoping my arms are getting toned from holding on to both leashes.

We've had some fits and starts and I've struggled with how to keep them under control and not get dragged down the road, but for better or worse, the three of us run together now. We've gone through harnesses, harnesses with the leash clipped on the front and now pincher collars. It kind of broke my heart to get the pincher collars, but it seems to work and helps me to keep them by my side and slowly they are learning to run without pulling ahead.

Lela only falls in step though when I am running at her preferred pace, which happens to be considerably faster than my own. Oh well, guess it is good interval training.

Somedays when it is hot and I need to go for a longer run, I try to split it up and trade dogs mid-run. Apparently for the people in the house with the left behind dog (Justin & Stella), it's not so fun. They hate to be left behind. If I leave Lela and take Penny for 3 miles, Lela stands at the door and whimpers and whines. When I leave Penny, she sits in the bay window and just stares sadly out the window (see below).

I've gotten Justin to start running a bit again, so then at least we can each take one. So they hate to be left out, but they do seem to love it when they get to run alone.

The other morning I took only Penelope and I hate to admit it, but I loved it. Reminded me of our first runs and I think she felt the same way. She seemed so happy and excited. I love Lela dearly, but there's something special about Running with Penny.

I think as we head into summer, trading out dogs on longer runs may become a necessity so they don't overheat. Even though for long runs, I bring a water belt largely filled with water for them, I don't want them to overdo it and so I may need to split them up.

But I do love running with my pack. It's certainly not something you see every day and when they jump into their postions - Lela always on the left, Penny always on the right - and we set off down the road, I think how lucky I am to have such great dogs..... until we see a squirrel.......

Running Intimacy

Wow, it has been quite a while since I last posted. Funny how life gets in the way. I was also determined to have more pictures, but haven't convinced Justin to come take pictures of us all running...



I read a quote that I loved and it made me think of the early mornings spent running with my dogs.

"Do not underestimate the intimacy of running, and the people [dogs] with whom you share your miles." - Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers Blog on Runner's World

So true. We rarely think of the way that running together bonds us to those around us, be they dogs or people. Those miles spent together most mornings are so special to each of us and it forms the basis of the wonderful bond I have with Penelope and Lela. There's something about running that allows us to communicate without talking, both dogs and humans, and as we sweat and/or pant side by side we feel united.

On the best morning runs, ones that aren't full of pulling on the leash or chasing squirrels, the three of us find our pace and settle in. Obviously, we aren't talking. Although I have found, that like a crazy person, I do talk to them through most of the run and let them now when they are doing well. But somehow we feel connected.

As the Frederick Half Marathon was fast approaching and sadly, I'd need to leave my training partners behind, I realized that maybe I needed to run without them. That's when I remembered this quote. I'd never really realized the role their simple presence played in my running. I couldn't remember NOT running with these two and was a little scared to try....

Running is solitary, but it is also communal, in those footsteps and paw steps, we find our balance and our connection and no one has to say a word....

Thanks puppy dogs for being my faithful companions!

Lesson 2 - Equilibrium

Lesson 2 is at the heart of why I've chosen to start this blog. It came out of a conversation with a co-worker about dogs and the idea of introducing a new dog into the house. In that conversation, he said something that really struck me and has stuck with me. I was saying I was concerned that Penelope would be a little upset with having a new dog to share the attention with.

And he said, "They will adjust, dogs just have this great sense of equilibrium. She'll know how to bounce back."

Wow. Equilibrium. For some reason that struck me. He was so right, but it was so much more than that. Dogs provide us with equilibrium. I realized that Penelope has become a source of equilibrium, a sort of steady eddy, my rock. No matter how up or down I am, she is my steadfast companion. His comment about dogs' ability to adjust to the world around them and regain their balance made me think - my daily runs with Penelope has helped me to find balance.

There's something about tip-toeing out of the house each morning (my not so quiet friend in tow) to get outside as the sun is just coming up, the two of us (now 3 of us as Lela has become a fixture in our morning runs) heading out into those serene early morning hours before life gets busy and complicated that gets me centered. Those runs, no matter how much they drag me or how many squirrels they chase, help me find my equilibrium.

Those moments I spend running with them by my side are bliss. Because they hold me accountable, I get up each morning no matter my mood and I run. And because I run, the problems seem to melt away. With each deep breath, life gets a little less complicated. It all comes together and each run I return to our front stoop relaxed, happy and.... balanced.

Maybe it's the exercise itself, the endorphin release, and it certainly is that, but I think there's more. A morning run is nice. A morning run with Penny or Lela or both is something more. We connect and move together. The pure enjoyment they show as their tongues hang out, lips curled up in a smile, tails gently wagging amplifies my own enjoyment and gives meaning to our routine. These runs keep me grounded and they keep me sane. They add balance to life even at its craziest.

Equilbrium. Balance. Penelope and Lela provide us that. Each day no matter what happened, no matter how bad traffic was or how bad our mood is, they are there. They are there with tails wagging, awaiting our arrival. They are happy to see us and as our constant companions and friends, they bring us back to center. They celebrate our joys with us, but lessen our sadness with a chin rested on your knee. They are there. They are present. And whether we realize it our not, they keep us in equilibrium.

I'm not sure I can thank them enough.

Lesson 1 - Accountability

Whatever my excuse is, Penelope doesn't care. She doesn't care if it's raining or snowing, she doesn't care if it's pitch black out, she doesn't care if I had one too many glasses of wine last night, when the alarm goes off each morning she is ready to run. And because she doesn't care, neither do I.

Granted Penny (and now our new addition Lela) grant me one, maybe two, taps of the snooze button, but if I even begin to reach for the third time, I have a snout in my face and kisses hitting my cheeks. Penny and Lela have learned quickly what the alarm clock means and they hold me accountable. On the pre-Lela days that I have shrugged Penny off and continued to snooze forgoing our morning jog, I feel guilty all day. I feel guilty when she leaps down the stairs and sits patiently staring at her leash. I feel guilty when I leave her behind to go to work or wherever, knowing that because I didn't feel like waking up, she didn't get to do the thing she loves most. She holds me accountable and I love her for it.

Just for the record, Penelope isn't some slave driver and can be quite compassionate. On a day where I am sick or on (rare) occasion brutally hungover, Penny can be equally as willing to jump up into my bed, quickly taking the spot Justin just vacated, to spoon for hours. However, if I'm second guessing my run because it's rainy or windy, well she lets me know it's time to suck it up. I'm sorry, call me crazy, but that dog understands me.

People often say dogs aren't particularly smart or don't truly understand human words, but try coming into my house and saying the word "RUN" or the word "WALK". Sure you can argue they simply recognize the command, but even said in a conversational way, you will watch Penny (and I'm sure Lela will soon join her) whip into a frenzy and run/leap to where we hang her leash and harness.

But I digress... Penelope has held me accountable in the way no other running partner ever has, teammate, friend, boyfriend or otherwise. All humans are prone to falling victim to the myriad excuses one can devise to NOT do something. Well not dogs. Here's my favorite.

It was a Saturday morning and Justin had left at 7:40 for work. It was a nasty March day when the weather is seemingly conflicted between the chill of winter and the rains of spring. One of those mornings when you can hear the wind howling and the rain pelting your windows and there's no need to look at your window to know that it is terrible out and don't need to go outside to know you'll freeze your ass off. The type of day that is best observed snuggled tight under blankets. My alarm went off and I did just that.... hit the snooze and tried to hunker down. Penny gave me one snooze cycle. Then as I went to hit the button again, a whimper and an eager face attached to a wagging tail was at my bedside.

The day, being particularly inhospitable, caused me to be particularly stubborn. To Penny's dismay, I hit the snooze again. She plopped down next to the bed with a sigh and waited it out. The next 10 minute interval passed and when the radio clicked on again she was up. While I contemplated a 3rd snooze, I rolled over to discover that in her mouth, Penelope was tenderly holding one Asic running shoe. While I snoozed she retrieved my running shoe from my closet as if to remind me that I promised we'd go for a run. How can you say no to that!?!?

Victory, Penelope. I got up, layered up and we headed out. The weather was terrible, but as is often the case- the run was not nearly as bad as I'd made it to be in my head. In fact, I rediscovered that I actually love running in the rain. Makes you feel pretty hardcore. My shoes were soaked and her paws and belly were covered in mud, but we had a blast. She yipped in the face of the wind and defiantly picked up her pace....I dutifully followed.

At the end of the day, it may be my favorite run with Penelope thus far. She refused to let me let her or myself down. She held me accountable and somehow with that cute face and wagging tail convinced me to do something I could have easily done without, but was so much better for doing. Gotta love running with Penelope!!

Turns out, I'm not the only person who has learned this lesson and reaped the benefits from our canine friends.... see this New York Times article where when elderly nursing home residents were asked to choose between another resident and a dog as a walking partner, those who chose dogs had dramatically better outcomes. Despite the fact that they had to board a bus and leave the premise to get to their dog partners, they showed up and walked with greater regularity and improved their strength, stability and stamina far more than those who chose human partners.

Read the full article here.... http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/the-best-walking-partner-man-vs-dog/

More pictures to come in the upcoming posts!!

Background Pt 3: Penelope as a Runner

As I said before, one look at Penny and you know she's a runner. As an adorable mix of a Golden Retriever and a Collie (most likely Border Collie) she is sleek and lean and pure speed. I'm not sure why her super combo has not yet become the next Cockapoo or Labradoodle, but it should be because she's pretty ridiculously awesome.

Anyway, from day one at the de facto dog park near our house, she has run circles around all the other dogs and people often comment to me how fast she is. She is a great herder and has been known to interfere in many a game of fetch- she'd make a great cornerback. It became readily apparent that finally my childhood dream had come true- I had a dog I could run with.

I remember our very first run back in November. We went to Meadowood Park after work since it had lights and ran two miles and we FLEW! She pulled me along the whole way and after taking some time off and perhaps enjoying a few too many brews, I was out of breath and winded, but in love! It was amazing how through running we seemed to instantly find a deeper connection. I remember it was very windy and as the wind blew in our faces little Penelope looked up at me and she was smiling! Maybe it was just the wind blowing her lips back, but I prefer to believe that as she lept for joy and ran along that she was smiling.

I was hooked and Penny certainly seemed to love it....but alas there is always a setback...

The next day poor Penny was limping. She was stiff and had a hard time getting up. I was concerned, but thought that just like her person, she was a little out of shape. The next day she seemed back to normal and we ventured to the dog park so she could run with her dog friends. Well that night back to limping. This time it continued for a day or two. Then she'd be normal again.

I was beginning to panic that perhaps my running partner could not be my steadfast exercise companion after all. I had read about Hip Dysplasia in Golden Retrievers, but assured myself that mutts did not have such ailments. But her post-exercising limping continued and off to the vet we went. Wouldn't you figure that my mutt, of all mutts, has hip dysplasia? I almost had a meltdown that my precious pup who so clearly loved to run and play may be sidelined for life. The vet told me that I had to limit her play time and cut out runs for the time being. I tried not to cry, but she also said there was hope. There were surgical options, but first we should try a Glucosamine supplement- Dasuquin. I had to give her two a day for the first 4-6 weeks and take her for brief walks for 14 days, then back of to 1 tablet a day.

Then the vet delivered one piece of good news- running/jogging could help! She explained that it was the lateral movement of playing and cutting and turning with other dogs that really stressed her hip, but by slowing adding straight line running to our routine it could build muscle strength around the hip joint and limit the effects of her dysplasia.....YES!!!

The Dasuquin is a Godsend I'm convinced and I can't even begin to tell you what a different dog she is today! We slowly built back up to jogging 10 minutes together (I of course had to stop running in the interim as an act of solidarity & it was ridiculously cold out) and then 15, and then 20 and NO limping. None at all, not even the slightest sign of discomfort. We ventured back to the dog park for short intervals and she didn't even limp after that. We ran through the blizzards and we began to pick up time and speed. My Penelope was back!!

With the vet's OK, we both began to build up our training. The key being no sudden changes and just gradual mileage increases the way you would while training yourself. Today, I'm happy to say that Penny and I have done 6+ miles with no issue at all, except that she runs way too fast, and we are well on our way to being ready for the half marathon on May 2!!

That kind of brings us up to speed to today. There are plenty of funny excerpts along the past several months, but I'll sprinkle those in later! Hooray for running with Penelope!

Background Pt 2: Penelope Comes Home

Penelope, unlike me, is a natural athlete & runner. I have only become one through sheer determination and occasionally brazen stupidity.

But how did Penelope come into our lives? We moved from Baltimore city to a small neighborhood in Towson called Rodger's Forge. The Forge, as we super cool residents call it, is about the most dog/kid friendly place on earth. Literally every house on our block has a dog and the same for our neighbors across the alley. In fact, when we had bought our house a friend and former Forge resident said to me, "You're moving to the Forge- Congrats! Do you have a dog?" "Umm no..." I said quizzically to which he said, "Well if you live in Rodgers Forge, you HAVE to have a dog!" So what did we do? We got a dog.

After much discussion and one brief stint as fosters to a rescued Pug (with major issues) that almost required an appearance on the show "It's Me or the Dog" for Justin (as in I needed to choose one) we determined we were ready for a dog. Justin has always wanted a German Shepherd, but was also willing to go the Golden Retriever route. I was about about the Golden Retriever idea so we began to look. At first with breeders and then after thinking of the cost and the 1,000s of homeless dogs at rescues.

We found Penny on Petfinder through the rescue group K-9 Lifesavers and were intrigued. Actually we found her brother, but when we inquired about him they informed us that he wasn't available because he was so sweet the foster family had decided to keep him. The sister, Peaches, however was still available and had an equally kind temperment. She was being boarded at a facility just over the Chesapeake Bay bridge, but would be going to an adoption event Sunday and would surely be adopted.

Somehow that stoked my competitive instinct and I called Justin from work that Tuesday and said, we need to go to Kent Narrows tonight to see this 6 month old puppy. Justin said ok, but on the condition "We are NOT going to get the first dog we look at. This is just to look, we aren't bringing her home." I agreed whole-heartedly, while simultaneously lying through my teeth. If she was sweet, no shot I was going home without her.

We hauled ass across the Bay Bridge (well over an hour drive) and when we finally got there, the woman brought this timid pup from the back. She kind of slinked up to us. She was smaller than we expected (like you shrank a Golden Retriever), but so cute. As she got to my feet so rolled onto her back to have her belly rubbed- GAME OVER. Justin knew it too. After looking at my face as I fell to the ground to pet this adorable pup, he said "what time does Petsmart close? We better make sure we get there before it closes for a crate etc." Mind you we had nothing- no collar, leash, food, NADA. But I'll be damned if I'd go another night without her. Justin was equally smitten and so with a borrowed collar and leash we loaded her into the car and headed home.

On the drive home, we tried to figure out a name because neither of us could imagine screaming "PEACHES" in the middle of a field trying to get her to come back to us. I know she was a rescue from a Georgia farm so I get the name, but yea no shot. So Justin came up with Penelope from Homer's Illiad. Penelope was Odysseus's wife and remained loyal to him forever despite his prolonged absence. Penny for short- works well because she's kind of a light copper color too. PERFECT.

She was shy and timid, but such a lover right from the get-go. My kind of dog, she immediately took to my favorite "trick" - Snuggle - and was a joy to have in the house. Lucky for us, she was crate trained and house broken and she immediately added so much life and fun to our house (our cat feels otherwise). Justin and I battled for her love and affection, but turns out the key to her heart would be running.... victory Katharine!

Her first week with us, she scared us after coming down with pneumonia and cost us a pretty penny at the Pet ER. She was sick and sad and I was even more smitten, dutifully giving her antibiotics and steam baths to help remove her congestion. She recovered fully and as she settled into our house her inner puppy came back. She began to play and romp and had boundless energy.

What better outlet for an energetic pup than running?? And so it began.....

Background Pt 1: Me as a Runner

Although I'm just getting around to starting this blog, Penny and I have been running together for almost 6 months already, so I thought it might make sense to bring everyone up to speed on how we got to where we are now.

Me as a Runner:

This transformation began in late 2008-2009. I played D1 lacrosse in college and after graduation needed some time to decompress and step away from constantly training. But I also needed a way to get rid of the ridiculous excess amount of muscle I had from years of too much lifting that goes along with playing a sport in college. Well, how many really huge long distance runners do you know? Seemed like a promising route. BUT, two obstacles- 1. After years of sprints and track workouts and conditioning drills, I didn't particularly like running and I never considered myself a distance runner and 2. I have had 4 knee surgeries including two ACL reconstructions and I'm currently ACL-less in the same pesky left knee that simply cannot keep an ACL intact. After wrapping our senior season (which I had to play in a big 'ol DonJoy knee brace), we are required to have an exit physical to determine how much additional medical care our battered bodies can get for free before we get kicked to the curb. Mine went something like this-

Dr. G & Dr. D "Your knees are a disaster. Your ACL no longer works because the bone has deteriorated. We suggest that we first do a bone graph to repair the damaged bone then 7 months later we will do another ACL reconstruction. It'll be 18 months of rehab, but it will hopefully save you from a full knee replacement at a young age and maintain your ability to play sports actively."

Me- "Well I don't really want to play lacrosse anymore and my knees don't hurt now that the season is over. I just want to be a runner. Is that surgery really necessary?"

Drs.- "It is up do you, but it's our suggestion that you do it and by the way- yea running is out of the question, definitely not a good idea."

Well after rehabbing through 4 surgeries through highschool and college and spending probably a combined 12 months on crutches, I was not looking forward to beginning my adult life in the working world on crutches. Just not that sweet.

So instead I did the exact opposite. I've always had a bit of a defiant streak and I love it when people tell me things I can't do- WHAT A CHALLENGE!! After resting for a few months, I started jogging. Initially my knees hurt and then finally I went and bought running shoes for their functionality NOT their style. Lo and behold, GOODBYE KNEE PAIN!!

Without pain and without the stress of workouts and time trials etc, I began to find joy in running. It was an escape, a release and I finally didn't feel so much pressure. If I saw a great view or a cute puppy, no one would care if I stopped to take it in or pet the pup. I could enjoy being outdoors and just moving.

Justin got into running along with me and soon we tackled a half marathon and then signed up for marathons. In 2009, my goal was to do one of everything: 1 5k, 1 10k, 1 10 miler, 1 half marathon & 1 marathon and I'm proud to say I did it!

Of all my friends and teammates I'm probably the last anyone would have suspected would run a marathon, but I did it and I loved it! I felt like my running transformation was complete. I'm certainly no Kara Goucher and can't hold a candle to my friend and ultra-runner Alyssa Godesky, but I could at least hold my own as a semi-legit runner. And I had proved to myself that I could do something that no one (often including myself) thought I could do. 26.2 miles is a long way and despite all the games I've played it is probably my proudest athletic achievement because the victory was solely mine. I've never been the star of a team, but I was proud to have done something for myself.

I completed the Baltimore Marathon on October 10, 2009. We closed on our new house October 13 and moved that day. So much for resting after the marathon....

Running took a backseat due to moving, settling into a new house, school starting for Justin's little one and the just general rush of life.... and then came PENELOPE....