Pooch to 5k – Page 9 – Running with dogs

5 Things My Dog Taught Me About Running

March 29, 2012 by Admin

This is a guest post by Vanessa Rodriguez from San Diego, USA. Vanessa is a keen ultrarunner and she is often accompanied by her dog on her training runs. Here she shares what she has learned about running from Ginger, and there’s a lesson there for all of us.

My dog Ginger is more than my running buddy. She’s my teacher. She never lets me down on a long run, and she constantly reminds me how to run with a pure heart and happy spirit. These are her lessons:

1. Always greet strangers.

No matter how far or fast we are running, Ginger will always stop to greet another dog. Sometimes the other dog is friendly and sometimes they are not, but that doesn’t stop Ginger from approaching. And so I have learned to warmly greet other humans. You never know when a stranger might turn into a friend.

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SPI Belt Lead with Pocket

by Francis

I recently saw the SPI Belt Dog Lead with Pocket at the Brisbane Twilight Half Marathon’s race expo, and straight away I thought it was a great idea. An elastic zippered bag attached to the side of a dog lead for carrying, according to them, keys, phone, and cash; according to me, essential dog needs of poo bags, treat, and maybe wrapped up dog waste. With one of these, there should be no excuses for the “forgetfulness” curse that plagues many dog walkers and runners, where they seem to never take bags with them when they go out with their dog.

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Brisbane Twilight Half Marathon – with dogs!

by Francis

On Sunday 18 March 2012 Audrey and I did something no-one else in Brisbane has done, as far as we know. We took our dogs Guinness and Cinnabar into the Twilight Half Marathon. OK, so maybe it’s not up there with Kathrine Switzer’s first running of the Boston Marathon, but for us, it represents a big step on the road to getting dogs accepted as runners, and racers too.

The week’s weather was rainy and humid. We were a little worried about running with the boys – Guinness and Cinnabar – in rain for 21.1 kilometres, not because of the cold or water in our eyes, but because the dogs foot pads would be softened by exposure to water and may have been more prone to cuts, glass, or splinters. However the rain held off for the latter part of Sunday so with leads in hand we headed off to the wilds of St Lucia.

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Run with your Dog 2012

March 12, 2012 by Audrey

This morning found the Pooch team at the 4.9km Run with your Dog fun run, which aimed to raise funds for Guide Dogs Queensland. The venue was the lovely Roma Street Parklands. We were thrilled to see a fun run specifically organised to include dogs and their owners.

It wasn’t too warm when the race started at 7.30am, but by the time we finished, Guinness was starting to feel the heat a bit. There was no starting gun, which I thought was a great idea, for the dogs’ sake. The starter just yelled “Go!”. Francis and I followed a couple of faster runners out of the starting area but unbeknownst to us, some cyclists had removed the traffic cones that outlined the race course. So, we ended up following the others in the wrong direction.

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Ultra Running and Dogs

by Admin

This is a guest post from our running buddy of the month, Sandra from the UK, who runs with her Huskies. You can read more about her dog and her running here.

The day I met Kez for the first time was the day I dared believe that I had finally met my future ultra running partner. Fast forward four years and Kez has proven himself to be far more than just a long distance training partner….

Kez, has achieved world wide fame for his running exploits with me. From sub five minute miles to over 50 mile races over mountains, he has helped me become a better person and a better runner just by sharing time together doing what we love and what gives us so much pleasure. The simple act of running, lots of running!

I was already an accomplished and self trained ultra runner before Kez joined the dog family. The family at that time consisted of three other huskies, varying in age from 7 to 13. All ran every day, different distances and different speeds.

With Kez I has one simple plan, help him become an ultra running husky using my knowledge of huskies and my own experience of teaching myself about running very long distances.

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Suburban Trail Running.

February 21, 2012 by Francis

Audrey and I were going to go trail running the other day at Kobble Creek while the kids were going to a Scout activity. I have a cold and Audrey has been away from the hills for a while. So we were under no illusions of setting a cracking pace, instead just wanting to spend a couple of hours in the outdoors together. It didn’t work for us – dropping kids off, driving home, driving out, leaving time to pick up the kids, etc. etc. it wasn’t going to happen – eighteen kilometres of unfamiliar trail was going to have to wait another day.

We went instead to a suburban nature reserve, Bunyaville, with Guinness and Cinnabar. (more…)