Andrew Schrauben

For about a week before the race I was battling a sore left IT band, then I must've overcompensated and caused some sore calves. I took it easy leading up to the 5K and it really paid off as my legs were able to recover. After the race my calves were a bit sore, but not as bad as the day before so that was cool.

Yesterday was my first run after the 5K, running with the guys from work. We managed a 9:00 pace over 5 miles and it felt pretty good and my legs were hardly sore afterwards. Still, I'm going to continue with a lighter training load this week to make sure my IT band and calves get all healed up before I crank up the intensity again.

That doesn't mean I won't run! All day at work today I felt like running so when I got home I packed the dogs in the car and drove to a nearby trailhead. It's only a half-mile away but it's a paved half-mile; I didn't want the pavement pounding my legs in trail shoes and I didn't want two big dogs dragging me around in their excitement, so I wussed out and took the car.

No worries though - once there, we ran. This way Haven and Beacon could spend the entire outing off leash and boy did they have some energy to burn! They were burning up the grass as I slowly jogged in pursuit. Three miles and 30 minutes later none of us were tired, but I wasn't going to push my legs today so we hiked to the river and I played fetch with the dogs.

Before I threw the first stick Haven was 50 yards down the riverbank, rolling in something in the bushes. I called her and waved the stick, but instead Beacon ran off to join her! Continuing to disobey, I ran after them and found the object of their desire - a stinky, rotten, dead catfish! Gross. Or "bogus" as we'd say in elementary school. Using a stick I pushed the carcass into the river and ran back to our fetching area waving the stick excitedly, leaping over a stream along the way.

Beacon as you may recall is a fiend for fetch. Haven usually just wades but this time she went after a stick in the shallows while waiting for Beacon to swim back. Next time I threw Beacon's stick far out into the river to give Haven more retrieving time, and threw her a stick pretty far out, too. Without hesitating she swam out and brought it back, and even enjoyed it!

Part of what I think has helped Haven is that when she brings a stick back, I get REALLY excited, jumping around and saying things like "wooooooooooo good girl, you got the stick, woo hoo woo hoo shake out that water shake shake shake WOO HOO!" I suppose if anyone saw me they'd think I was Daffy Duck going loony. But it worked! She started to get spooled up and was fetching sticks thrown as far as Beacon's were thrown. Both dogs are sound asleep right now, so I bet they had fun!