Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Running in Slush....

......is not fun! I posted yesterday about the freak snow that we got. It wasn't forecasted and we got several inches of it. Which is definitely not normal for our area. It was forecasted to rain over night and essentially most if not all of the snow would theoretically be gone by morning. Let me remind you, this was forecasted by the same people who didn't see the snow coming until it was falling. Then said it would be rain by 4pm. And still the snow came down. Needless to say, they were wrong again. I don't think it even rained a little over night. Some of the snow did start melting, but most of it was still there this morning.

Fast forward to tonight when I got home from work. At least half of the snow had melted and the roads were basically clear. Unfortunately, the sidewalks really weren't. I came home to two very happy and energetic dogs. One dog who it is killing me that I literally can't do anything with (can't even practice anything obedience related because that basically involves exercise and him using his rear in some form) and the other that remembers our fun jaunt in the snow yesterday and is eagerly thirsting for more!

In order to keep some semblance of peace in the house, Bess HAS to get exercised. Or as I like to say, exorcised! It's seriously true though! If you've had the "opportunity" to see Bess in her rare unexercised and totally amped up form, it's a sight to be hold. She honestly doesn't know what to do with herself. Sometimes I wonder if her head won't explode if she doesn't get some form of exercise. Of course, sometimes I like to augment her craziness and get her REALLY riled up and doing zoomies. It's just freaking hilarious! But I digress!

My only choice in order to keep Heffner from getting too riled up was exorcise the she beast, so off we went with Heffner barking at us from the house. Bess thought we were going out for a quick jaunt to the park where she would get to fly her freak flag again. I had other plans. I wanted to get a nice jog in and release the tensions of the day. After much spinning and bouncing, she realized that I did in fact mean to keep her attached to the leash. She made the best of it and happily trotted ahead of me. Once we got onto our normal running path, I almost turned right back around. The threat of two crazed dogs stuck in the house with me and no real means of "exorcising" them, was enough to keep me going. The sidewalks were pretty much water and lots of slush. Which meant that with every bounding step, I was throwing slushy, nasty, coldness into my shoes and onto my pants. Running in sloshy soaked shoes isn't entirely pleasant. But again, the alternative wasn't even thinkable!LOL

We headed off to the soccer fields where I was hoping to let Bess off leash for a bit so that she could burn off her zoomies. However, it was so nasty, my feet were already pretty gross, and the fields looked like mushy slush pits, so I opted NOT to even attempt wandering out there.

We pretty much didn't see another human being on foot while we were out. I'm sure people passing us on the road thought I must have been daft to be jogging along in that stuff and dragging my poor dog with me. I will say this though, it's an altogether different type of work out than I'm used to! Not only are you getting the exercise from running, but you're running on a surface that can and will at any moment move out from underneath you. And usually in a direction that you don't expect. Bess seemed otherwise pretty unphased. I think she was disappointed that we passed by her usual off leash fields with no off leash fun, but I have a feeling she'll live.;o)

The moral of this long story is that they need to make comfortable, waterproof, above the ankle, running shoes for just such an occasion.:) Betcha didn't see that moral coming!:)

Since tomorrow is New Years Eve, I am going to attempt to make a list of things that I would like to accomplish with the dogs in the new year. I think it'll be good for me to have a recorded list that I can go back to and check things off. I really do enjoy lists! Even better when they're in a spreadsheet! I'm also a heck of a lot better at accomplishing things when I write them down and make myself find a way to "get 'er done!"

2 comments:

Two Pitties in the City said...

The snow/slush makes our lives miserable. The worst part in the city is everyone thinks once it snows they don't have to clean up their poo because it will "magically melt away" with the snow. The unfortunate thing is that once it thaws, all the poo thaws and becomes a big slushy mess. Definitely need higher ankle shoes to wade through this stuff.

M.T. said...

You need better weather forecast people in your area! LOL

I practically gave up with running shoes when the snow starts falling. It's all about trudging around in high winter boots once snow and slush is on the ground!