The Four Mile Run

The other morning Brinkley and I took off on our run like any other day.  I wasn’t overly thrilled with the idea of running but I told myself we’d do the lake route and call it good enough.  We hadn’t run the lake route since the horrible run back in July so I figured we’d just take it nice and easy.

By the mile mark I knew it was going to be a good run.  A mile went by quickly with random thoughts jumping around in my head and distracting me from the task at hand.  I was thinking about scrapbooking and how I needed to organize my mess as I cleaned it up.  Then I started daydreaming about a scrapbook room of my own.  

At the two mile mark, I convinced myself to run for three miles.  Another mile filled with random thoughts flew right by and I was approaching a fork in the road.  If I chose to take a right, it would take me right up next to the lake.  If I chose to take a left, it would keep me along the main road.  I wavered - settle for getting by and doing the usual or taking advantage of the busy mind and rested legs and shoot for more.  

I decided to shoot for more.  I stayed along the main road and eventually linked up with the bike path.  Brink and I stopped at the water hut by the golf course and got a quick drink.  That was about mile 3 and by then I was convinced I could run the rest of the way home, possibly making it a 4 mile run.

I refused to look at my phone to see how far I’d gone.  I wanted to keep going until I was back to where I started.  Mile 3 to 3.5 was all uphill.  We conquered it!  I was not even breathing hard and my legs didn’t feel even a tiny bit tired.  Brinkley was having a ball.  He must have been feeding off my good vibes.  He had a bounce to his step and his chest puffed out as he trotted along next to me.  

We reached the finish line that I’d set in my head and I glanced at the GPS tracking on my phone - 3.98 miles! I told Brink to keep running and we did.  As soon as the tracker switched to 4.01 miles, we walked.  I walked with no ache, no pain, and no panting.  It was AWESOME!

I have a method to each run.  Same shoes, shorts, shirt.  My phone w/ headphones goes in the left pocket.  The keys and [empty] poop bags go in my right pocket.  Around my waist is the buddy leash with Brinkley on about a 3.5 foot lead.  He keeps pace with me on my right side.

He knows when I say “off the sidewalk,” he needs to get off the sidewalk so we can run around someone or allow another person on the sidewalk more room.  When we see anything that’s doggie delicious (rabbits, squirrels, small dogs, and small children) I say “leave it” and “be good” and 99% of the time, he does just that.

He scans all around while we run.  I can tell when something catches his eye because he’ll try to keep scanning while continuing to jerk his head back to whatever is he wants to keep an eye on...a squirrel, another person on the bike trail, someone on a bench, etc.  He’s got my back!

We make a good team out there conquering each mile.  Hopefully it’s as good for his health as it is for mine.  Now that running is becoming easy again, I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.  I learned that lesson once before!  I’m already looking at running tights to help getting me through the cold winter mornings!

Anywho, enough rambling - the four mile run was awesome!  I’m proud of us!!