Small Victories: Walkies

There are these two terriers in our neighborhood that Zooey has claimed as her mortal enemies. She FUH-REAKS OUT when they walk by our house. When we have encountered them on walks, chaos has ensued. I've decided that she sees them as some sort of prey she needs to tree, because every time she picks up their scent, she goes the same kind of crazy as when she's gone on raccoon hunts.

Even at 100% strength, when she goes into full coonhound huntress mode, it's a struggle to stay upright, and that was everyone's concern when I started walking her again.

For the most part, our walks have been great. I think both of us are happy to have that time again, me because Walking is better than Not Walking and her because obviously I'm the cool parent who lets her do things on walks.

Head 'em up, and move 'em out!

This morning, though, she picked up a scent and whoa, buddy, were we off.

Yes, it was those two terriers again. 

Maybe I should start calling them "those white raccoons on leashes." 

Anyway…

Zooey was hell bent on catching up to them, but the most amazing thing happened.

I didn't fall when she pulled.

In fact, I was able to hold on to her leash (albeit with both hands) and make sure she didn't drag me anywhere.

Barking at those white raccoons is exhausting.

The last little bit of our walk was much faster than I'd intended, and I'd like to offer the neighborhood a "you're welcome" for being able to serve as a backup alarm so no one was late to work (I guess Zooey needs to take that credit), but it was the first walk that included unplanned instability - as opposed to the stability exercises I do at PT - and I managed to stay upright.

Ideally, I'd already be thinking about 10K an beyond, but in reality, I'm looking forward to the day when I can do a full minute of running intervals while walking. That means I need to find the joy in making progress toward that goal. And while the last year and a half has been frustrating, I'm making progress back to the running and cycling that I love, this time hopefully stronger and better able to meet my goals.