February has hit Boston! We started the month with temps rising into the low 60s, then only to plummet and welcome 8 inches of snow, and now–mid month– we are entering a polar vortex with windchill bringing us to -30 degrees “life threatening” cold temps. Life sure is rich!
I’ve upped my running this month. I’ve been run commuting as much as I can, at least 3 days a week. I’ve been getting lots of small short runs in, but haven’t gone for a long run yet. I am hoping to change that but in the meantime, I don’t mind getting the miles where I can. Currently, I took a few days off to prevent metatarsalgia from escalating, and I feel good about it.
Last weekend, Erik, Jeremy, Sky, and I took to Douglas State Park with intentions of hitting the Mid State Trail all the way south to RI and then over to CT and back up. It would’ve been 19-20 miles. Yet, that area got maybe 10 inches of snow the day before which made running difficult and made my foot pads scream. We ended up hiking for a few hours and it was a beautiful day. We ended by hitting up Wormtown brewery in Worcester.
The next day was SUPER SUNDAY. The Brighton Bangers were racing this as a team, close to 30 teammates ran it! The race offers a 5k and 5 miler option and allows dogs to compete, too (so long as they start in the back). I thought this would be a good opportunity to try Sky out at a large race (~2500 people). We signed up for the 5k with the intention of running the 5 miles over to the start.
Well Sky was great at the beginning, waiting for the race to start. She was certainly a little stressed with tons of people walking about and petting her and she didn’t know why we were just standing around. The 5 mile race started first and we stood along the road on the side. This was where she started to flip out. As the runners passed she began whining and barking and crying. I felt awful and tried to calm her down with food. She was so uncomfortable, I honestly thought about just forgetting the whole thing and running home. But really, Sky is smart and I think with experience she will be able to be comfortable with the crowds. I’d like to bring her to races for the rest of her life, so this stage of discomfort (for both of us) is something that we have to work on together.
After the 5 milers ran through, we walked to the back of the start. There were other dogs lined up and if I stood with her, she barked at them. So I paced around the start which seemed to calm her down more. She was slowly getting more comfortable so long as we were moving. She is not used to us being outside, her on leash, and us not moving. I think that is what she needs the most practice with.
Once we started, she was TOTALLY fine. She is made to run. I was hoping to take it easy and run slowly but geez, Sky wanted to race. She pulled me for a 26 min 5k, which is far from either of our best runs but she just wanted to get ahead. If there was anyone ahead of us, her goal was to catch them! I should train for a 5k and rest up before one and then see how fast she can pull me!
She ignored other dogs while we were running, she chased runners, made people smile, and wore her own singlet to rep the Brighton Bangers! At one point in the race, she barreled into a road cone and I couldn’t stop laughing. This dog can race but she is not made for OCRs. That’s probably a +5min penalty.
She did great for her first race, I thought. She was kind of a jerky asshole to other dogs once we were standing in the (poorly managed) afterparty. I think she was stressed and overwhelmed at that point but I was still proud. She is a dominant alpha rescue and her behaviors can be unpredictable so a big event like that is both mentally stressful for her AND for me. I’m proud we made it!
48 peaks 