Family Time

For the past month I've been taking it easy to recover from last month's race, and have been slowly upping the weekly base back to 20-25 miles before training starts again next week.  J and I have used this opportunity to get the dogs outdoors with us on our runs.  We started them off with 1.5-mile runs at the beginning of the month and worked them up to 5-mile runs this week.  I think 5 is the limit for the 'old maid', who will be 10 this April, as she drags a bit going uphill as well as towards the end of the run.  The 'little one', on the other hand, seems to have a full tank of gas left at the end of our runs. 


I love having the whole family out running in the chilly, dark mornings.  While enveloped in darkness, my sense of hearing is heightened.  All I hear are the stillness of the morning, pitter patter of the paws, our rhythmic breathing, and the semi-regular 'emissions' that J decides to let loose (I have learned not to run in the line of fire).  The way I see it is this is 'our time', when the family gets to bond without any outside distractions (aside from the occasional rabbit that darts across our path, prompting futile lunges from the kids).  Unfortunately, once training resumes we won't be able to bring them out with us on every run, but I'll make sure to bring them with us as often as we can.