Running Partner

Calvary's Isabella

I would like to introduce you to my running partner. Her name is Calvary Isabella or Bella for short. She is a Miniature Australian Shepherd. The breed is just like standard size Australian Shepherd, just a little smaller. I got Bella when she was 8 weeks old. She is now almost 4 years old. Australian Shepherds (Aussies) are known for their intelligence and willingness to please. Bella has just that. She is incredibly smart and loves to be with me at all times.

Bella is about 30 pounds and is a red-tri coat pattern.

She is also very out of shape at the moment. Aussies have a double coat, making the Florida Heat kind of tough on her during the summer months. I plan on getting back in shape along side of my trusty pal.

Bella loves to go for runs, however she thinks it is appropriate to potty every quarter mile or so. On day one of our training run she pooped three times, and peed and uncounted amount of times. I am hoping that she will get better as we run more, because it slows our pacing down.

Obedience is a major factor when taking a dog for a walk or a run on a leash. Bella is really good about listening to me on and off the leash making her controllable around people and other dogs. However, if there is another dog she gets really excited and wants to play most of the time.

Now that the weather is getting cooler I hope to take her with me on most of my runs, so stay tuned to my posts to find out how she is doing with her training runs as well.

Zeus

I couldn't write a post about Bella and not include Zeus. This is Bella's little brother. He loves his picture being taken.

Turtle and Dog Run

My challenger tonight! 

Tonight was the first night I ran since my 5k on Sunday Morning. I was going to try to do a 2 mile loop, but by the time dinner was done and my hubby got out of the swimming pool, it was already 7 P.M. and I didn't want to run in the dark.

I asked Bella (my miniature australian shepherd) if she wanted to go for a run, and of course as all dog running buddies do she got super excited and ran to the door. I harnessed her up, tied my asics and set my garmin for a training run. I mapped out a 1 mile run around the block earlier so I decided to do that run tonight.

I ran past our old house during my run. It was bittersweet... Actually it was sweet, because I realize we got a much better house for a lot better deal. (God works like that sometimes)

Along the run, Bella and I almost ran right past "Our challenger!" He was a little baby gopher turtle. He was on the side of the road eating supper when I stopped to take his picture. He didn't really like me getting that close to him, but stuck his head out anyways.

Here is the funny part of my run tonight... When you run with a dog you risk the chance of said dog needing to "potty." Well I normally carry doggy bags with me, however tonight I figured I didn't need one since we were only going 1 mile. At about 1/2 mile Bella stopped to pee. I paused the garmin and the nike+ app and let her do her thing. We jogged on. At 3/4 of a mile she decided it was time to poop. Now mind you, our house is right around the corner. She kept trying to stop to potty along the way. I was trying to get her to the nearest empty lot so she didn't poop on someones lawn. What does my awesome little running partner do?

She stops in the middle of running and poops in the middle of the road. :-/ Not on the side in the grass... but on the asphalt. I did what any runner would do... I bowed my head in shame and jogged off hoping no one was looking.

Overall my run was really good. I didn't do intervals, I just ran till I wanted to walk and walked for a few steps then started running again. I really have to focus on running and training for the Disney Princess next year. I really want to beat my last time of like 3:30.

Today's run summary:

Miles: 1.19

Time: 14:36

Pace: 12:16

I analyzed my run on the Garmin website and figured that my running pace is about a 9:30 to 10:30. That is much faster than I thought it was. Now I have to build endurance to try and lessen my walking times.

I will leave you with a picture of my running buddy Bella:

This is Bella. She is a 3.5 years old Miniature Australian Shepherd.