I thought that it would be fun to train with my dog Tess for the London Marathon.  By taking her with me on my runs would mean that it would be less work for the rest of the family in taking her on walks.  That was the plan.

I bought a lead which I could attach to a belt and this would leave my hands free while I was running.  The lead is elasticated, so this should have allowed some variation in movement between Tess and I.  This did not work, Tess hates running at a steady pace and she always goes around the opposite side of a post to me.  A number of Laurel and Hardy moments were had.  So we gave up the running through Dorking and concentrated on the long runs on the weekend.  All went well until we reached around 8 miles.  At this point Tess couldn’t keep up.  The first time I thought that she must of had done a lot the day before.  I had to drop her off at my sister-in-laws to allow me to continue with my run.  The next time I had to call Clare up to pick Tess up in the car.  So the long runs stopped.  It’s not as though I force her to go with me.  When I come down the stairs in my running kit, she wags her tail excitedly and starts her stretches.  She prepares for her runs far better than I do.  So she really loves doing it, but at the moment she’s not up to the big runs.

I’ve got mixed feeling with this.  It is a shame that she is not fit enough to do the runs and Tess really should be fit enough.   I don’t want a flabby dog.  On the other hand it makes me in her eyes ‘The Man’, ‘The Big Daddy’, ‘Alpha Male Supreme’.  But I shouldn’t think that way.  Well I’ll enjoy it as long as possible before Tess starts to leave me puffing and panting in her dust.

Tags: Training, Marathon

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