{52 Snapshots of Life} Week 44: Scary

Today was our first run since Monday. This is not just because it was raining a few days and then really windy. This is because Henri got bit by another dog on our run, Monday. I, of course, stepped in and also got bit.

I know you are not supposed to try to break up a dog fight with your hands, but he had Henri by the nose and wouldn't let go, so I tried to break his grip. Henri was screaming. What was I supposed to do? There was a lot of blood. I'm still not sure whose blood it was. I had blood all over my hands. There was blood splattered on my clothes and face. It looked really bad, thankfully, worse than it turned out to be. It was getting dark so I couldn't see how bad it was and, of course, I didn't care about my wounds. We were almost home, literally a quarter of a mile left of the run. I needed to get Henri into the light so we walked the rest of the way home, Henri seemingly fine, even stopping to pee on the way.

We both ended up with Emergency visits that night, both of us just getting cleaned up and sent home. No stitches for either one of us, just a little bit of gauze and medical tape for me. Most of the bites were isolated to two fingers, my right pointer finger and my left pinkie. I don't know how that happened. I was just trying to do something. Henri's nose was swollen and he was licking a lot, but we were both given a clean bill of health and sent home with antibiotics to fight infection. Look at that! We really do do everything together! 

Let's agree to never have a theme like this again. I was just thinking before we left on our run how I was not going to be able to incorporate our running with "scary". This event was truly scary. My poor baby's nose! It was really the best possible outcome, considering the amount of screaming and blood. The vet said that Henri most likely just blew out of his nose and it sprayed everywhere, making it look like the scene of a murder, rather than the series of paper cuts (really bad paper cuts, made with cardboard) that is was.

Henri moped around for a few days. I know my fingers hurt, so I'm sure his face hurt. He would make loud noises with his tongue as he tried to sooth it and get the swelling to go down. Also, his antibiotics had a side effect of upset stomach, so he really wasn't felling himself.

Today though, today was a beautiful day. The rain was gone. The wind was gone. The cold was gone. It was a perfect day for a run. When I got home from work and started to talk to Henri about it, he seemed more and more like his old self. I wanted to make sure this run was a positive experience for him, so I planned out a route that would avoid dogs barking at him. I had taken off my bandages and while I still couldn't bend my fingers all the way, the bruises had faded to yellow. I wasn't sure what blood quickly pumping through them would feel like, but I would use them as a reference for pain for Henri. The cooler temps in the air would also help keep us comfortable.

I got a little scared right before we left, not for fear of getting attacked again, but for Henri and how he was going to be. I wanted to make sure that he didn't become fearful, nor aggressive in response to what happened to him. I had to get over my fear or Henri was going to feel it and respond in exactly the way I did not want him too. We did pass one dog barking at us. Henri whined, but he was responding in the same way he normally did at that house, so I was comforted by that. I continued to reassure him as I always do and we carried on.

He seemed to enjoy the run. He didn't seem to have any ill effects from the previous encounter. I will continue to watch him as we get back into it, but I am thinking all will be okay. Time heals all wounds, both physical and mental.

{52 Snapshots of Life} Week 43: Pumpkin

Yeah, I carved a pumpkin that looks like my dog running. What of it? ;)

Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads

We finally did it! We won the coveted "Best Group Costume Award". Well, I don't know how coveted it is, but I have tried to win it every year for three years running. The first year Henri was the Big Bad Wolf and I was one of the Three Little Pigs (You know, the last one, because I survived, building my house out of bricks and all). Last year, Henri was a Scuba Diver and I was a Shark. Henri won "Best Costume on a Dog over 25 lbs" (Hey! Are you calling my dog fat?), but we still didn't win the Group Award. I wasn't even sure how I was going to top his Scuba Diver costume, but as a team, we did it!

This was not an easy one. Besides sewing Henri's Doc Brown outfit, I had to make a Delorean that I could wear and walk around with, but still looked cool. I thought I was being pretty detailed with Henri's scuba gear, but the Delorean was much, much more difficult. Yeah, I couldn't just let it be a cardboard car. I did it to myself. I had real seat belts, side view mirrors from bikes, Little Tykes wheels and steering wheel. I had to build the Mr. fusion Home Energy Reactor, the power source on the back of the Delorean and fashion headlights and taillights out of reflective tape and of course, I had to get a miniature version of the license plate. All of this meant many, many hours of cutting, spray painting, gluing and taping.

As I prepared our costumes and asked people for spare parts, I had to explain what I was making. Many people asked, "How are you going to run in that?" Gosh! Can you imagine? (Besides the fact that I would feel pressured to run 88 mph) I had to explain that it was just a parade. Henri and I don't always run. We do lots of fun stuff together, like pretend we are from movies from the 80's :)

{52 Snapshots of Life} Week 42: World

When I've got a million things going on and I'm stressed about getting it all done, my mind is racing and I just don't know where to start, because that's where I've been living for weeks, this is where I start.

It's my favorite place in the whole world. Running, side by side, with my boy.

The Color Run 2015

The happiest 5K on the planet and I couldn't be happier or prouder of my running protege for running the entire thing.

Of course, it was the coldest day we've had yet this fall, but it was sunny, which helped with both the cold and the addition of glitter. We really did shine!

{52 Snapshots of Life} Week 41: Animal

I'm still playing catch up with the Snapshots of Life challenge! Funny how something that happens every day, suddenly stops happening when you need to take a picture of it!

I'm serious. We see deer while we are running at this particular park every day. They aren't always in the same spot and they are getting harder and harder to see as the leaves start to change color, or as it gets darker earlier. I know they're there, I just can't see them, let alone get a picture of them. They don't seem to be too bothered by the fact that people and dogs are everywhere. Henri doesn't seem to mind them too much either. He just watches them and they watch back. There is a mom and her babies we see the most often...or it could be several set of moms and babies. I don't know.

I know there was a baby or two when I took this, but as in most of my pictures, they disappear, camouflaged into the background. This must be how Nessie and Big Foot stay unphotographed. I'm convinced. They are real.

{52 Snapshots of Life} Week 40: Framed

I'm a little late and this is not exactly what I had in mind, but I've run out of time to get what I want and I do love this picture. It was my back-up plan, so...

I saw this wall, with this art and I just had to run by it. Of course, my little wolfie and I are blocking the picture of little red riding hood and the big bad wolf, but I guess that's kind of suiting.

I Get By With A Little Help...

...from my iPod.

Fourth run in a row: New hardest run of the week

Well, at least I'm improving past third run in a row. I am thankful for screamo songs that yell, "Go ahead. Run! Run!" when running uphill, followed by a little "We are the champions". Thank you, iPod. That was very motivating.

We went out to one of the parks again today, but we were on our own. Perhaps spoiled by yesterdays adventure, plus the association of this park and our running buddies, Henri seemed a little confused that no one was running with us today. He kept looking behind us and around. I thought maybe someone was coming on a bike, or there was another runner, but no one was ever there. It was a little nerve racking! Maybe that's what made the run so hard ;) Yeah. We'll go with that.

I Must Be Chopped Liver

I think Henri's day was just made!

Henri loves his Papa! He gets super excited whenever the three of us go anywhere, which I guess that should be an indication of how often that happens. Henri seems to think it's a big deal. He has a hard time calming down. He sometimes forgets all the things I teach him because, who cares? Papa's here! So, guess how excited he was that Papa went on a run with us today. SO excited! (Insert replay of Jessie Spano from Saved By The Bell singing 'I'm So Excited' here - but not the scared part, that doesn't apply today.)

We have all run together once before, but we had gone somewhere else, not just around the neighborhood. This made it different. He really wanted to be with his Papa. I was trying to slow down to give them some distance so Henri wouldn't trip him, but I think Papa was trying to slow down to stay with us, or to keep Henri from pulling me the entire run. Either way, Henri had The Best Time! 

By the time we were at the halfway point, Henri calmed down and focused more on the run. He was still trying to keep up with his Papa, but I was starting to run out of gas. Come on! It was my third run in a row this week! That is, historically, my worst run, but I kept up (with maybe a little help from my sled dog). I had to push a little harder, but that's okay.

That's Better

Today's run went much better than yesterdays, and by that I mean that it did not end with me sitting in the grass, in pain, trying not to pass out or throw up. I'm okay, I just got some stomach cramp or something that activated my wimpy genes that make me pass out. I'm not sure where the nausea came from, but I haven't been quite able to shake it since. I was determined to get the run in today, even if that meant I was sitting off to the side, waiting till I could walk again. I would just stop much sooner this time, instead of seeing how much I could push it.

Luckily, I felt fine. I felt really good actually. I just wanted to run. We kept it at a comfortable steady pace and finished strong. Henri is getting more and more confident all the time. He does better when dogs are barking as we pass their house. He wasn't even fazed when two dogs that weren't on leashes run up to us as we went by their house. He's doing better at home with the neighbor dogs, too. Now, if I could just get him to be better about going new places...

Running and Getting Nowhere Fast

We were on our own again today, Henri and I. We stayed close to home, so we got out a little earlier. We caught a little more of the sunshine and a lot of wind.

I am not really good at figuring which direction the wind is blowing and where we're going to be running into it. Thankfully, more often than not, it's blowing in a direction that we're heading into at the beginning. Sure, this makes it harder to get going, but it's mostly smooth sailing after that if we (I) can push through. 

Today's run felt like a metaphor. Sometimes, life is hard. You work and you push and sometimes you just feel dragged down, or like you're trying, but you're getting nowhere fast. Then, one day, you're through it and you're stronger for it. Maybe you weren't really that weak to start with. It may not have gone quite the way you wanted it to, but here you are, on the other side. Oh, and it's always better to go through it with a friend close by your side.