Dog blog

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” – Josh Billings

Running with a friend always seems to help melt away the miles on a cold winter run. Time slips by more quickly with someone to talk with, to keep the tiredness or lack of motivation at bay. Companionship in life and on the run can make for more memorable experiences.

Like life, running can be a battle, with its small and big ups and downs, with its periods of deeply motivated action and its troughs of tough slogging.

On a recent trip to a snowy valley, nestled between the mountains in Vermont I found a four-legged friend who truly made one Canadian runner’s long run a little more memorable.

Dog Blog

The dog was smaller with a speckled coat that reminded me a bit of the colourings of a bluetick hound. I had just left the house of a friend in Vermont for a long run and was slowly easing the kinks out of my body under a blue sky. I was making my way along the rural snow-packed dirt road and had just passed Norman Rockwell’s house and the covered bridge that marked the 5k mark when I met the dog.

I had a few hours to run and had planned to do 15-20 miles at an easy pace. I saw the dog, we looked at each other and I had no signs to be worried or to move away (have had to confront and a few angry dogs on my runs over the years). I smiled and continued running. A few moments later a shadow made its way beside me and I was soon joined by the speckled dog. She (as I would find out from my friend later) (I didn’t think we had reached that point in the relationship to check) briefly looked over at me and then jogged to a position a few feet in front of me.

With only the sound of my breathing and six feet making soft sounds on the snow we ran.

Four-legged friend

We covered 20 miles (32k) that day, her in front unless she had to sniff something and then she would run to catch up with me and take up her position again. I waited a couple times for her to pee and we would carry on and as we came towards the end of the run she slowed to run right beside me. I am not sure what it was but I was overcome by a sense of peace and enjoyment as we moved along together. Two friends enjoying the road and companionship. We didn’t exchange words but there was a quick hug and a lick when I stopped for a moment mid-run.

One has to enjoy certain moments in life that you stumble across and this was one of them. Sharing words with a fellow runner is nice but this fun, four-legged friend needed no words to communicate. Hence I have no words or quotes to share – just my thoughts.

Anecdotal and scientific evidence have shown that dog owners tend to be healthier than the average person. Runners tend to be healthier than the average person. Could running with your dog be a performance enhancer? I am neither qualified or care to know the answer but my dog companion on that run improved my day.

Run on my friends, I may envy some of you who do it with a canine companion.

Do you have a running story to tell?

legsnlungs@hotmail.com

See you on the roads or in the blogosphere.