Monday, February 04, 2008

Fun with your dog. Or really, things you don't want to do after you run

Today was yucky; rainy and grey when I woke up.

Beau has speech on Mondays. Usually I do an easy--read hangover--run while he is there. Then I drop him at school and meet up with Steph for a bike if the weather is decent. And then late afternoon I hit the pool for a swim. All the workouts are fairly easy but I do usually spend about 3-4 hours running, biking and swimming on Mondays so it does sort of end up being a hard day, you know, once I get past the hangover--or, maybe that is why it is hard. Whatever.

Since the weather was rather unappealing thought I would swim and run on the treadmill. I know I call it the dreadmill but somedays I really do like to run on the treadmill because I run fast and, let it be said, I like to press the buttons. But Mondays are never days that I like to run on the treadmill. Right. Again, the hangover.

But after I dropped Beau at school the weather seemed to clear up and I thought well I could just run for an hour or maybe even run 10 miles because in my mind 10 miles easy pace outside is always easier than 4-6 on the treadmill at a sub 7:30 pace. More is less in this case.

And see, that is the exact sort of thinking that gets me into trouble. I'll be out for a long run and I'll be tired and near the end (you know like 18 miles in) and I'll think well, if I go this way it is 3 miles longer but there are less hills than that--shorter--way. Dumbass me will take the longer way just to avoid running up a hill even though doing so would still get the run over and done with at least 20 minutes sooner. I am not a very logical person but at the time it will totally make sense. Distance doesn't to bother me. Difficulty does. I'm a little lazy. I like, want, things to be easy.

I digress-- that is more of an example of things you shouldn't do during a run not after. So, not the point of this post. Getting there, patient, lovely reader.

Today I took Lola and decided last minute that I would try to hit my 2 hour run. With Lola.

Lola is coming along quite nicely as endurance dog but she hasn't run more than 10 miles and that has been on much cooler days. I figured today though might be a good day since there would be lots of puddles for her to drink out of and it was pretty mild and over cast.

We did 14 miles and she did great. Took us just under 2 hours and that includes stopping at lights and lots of puddles and twice for her to go to the bathroom. So a pretty decent pace.

Unfortunately this brings us to the stuff you don't want to do after a run.

Namely bathe your stinky dog.

Cause really? Who likes bathing a dog ever? Especially a 55+lb Husky? After they just ran 14 miles.

But you certainly don't want to bathe the dog after you yourself have showered because then you will just have to shower again. Nevermind that it is lunch time and you are starving.

And you do know that bathing the stinky dog in the bathroom means that you will also have to clean the entire bathroom--not just the tub of the copious amounts hair shed--but everywhere because the stinky dog was not so cooperative about getting into or staying in the tub.

And then you will also have to mop up the floors in the hallway and downstairs when the now clean dog escapes and runs willy nilly all over the house. And yes your legs have started to lock up a little so you are not so adept at chasing and catching and crating willy nilly wet dog.

And then you have to wash a lot of towels because huskies? They are big and have lots and lots of hair. Uhm, did I mention that that huskies? Huskies have A LOT of hair. A LOT.

So after you clean EVERYTHING up you get to take a shower in the tub you just scrubbed, bleached and ridded of dog hair. Because really, you just don't feel very clean with wet dog hair sticking to your soapy body. It is a little icky.

But wait. There is more. Because when you get out of the shower you discover that the house smells like wet dog. Yuck. So then, of course, you must vaccuumm, sweep and clean the entire house with pledge, murphy's oil, lemon scented pinesol and bleach so that the house smells clean and disinfected. And not at all like wet dog hair. Which at this point kinda smells worse than when the dog was actually dirty. Then the dog just smelled like a dog now the dog smells like wet dog. Which trust me, is way more offensive.

Of course after you clean the house and make it smell all fresh and bleachy, mmm bleach, you discover that the clean and dry dog is shedding a ridiculous amount of hair because of the bath.

So of course then you have to go outside and get into a bit of a grooming fight with your unruly, yet very clean, husky. You win the war but it does take 20 minutes of brushing and getting tangled up in the leash and you are once again, covered in dog hair. Madness. Hair madness. I tell you. Abonimable snowman like hair. I am yeti.

Sigh, at this point you decide that the $95 dollars the grooming place quoted you for bathing and grooming a husky might be totally worth it.

Is it just me that spell check isn't working for? What the hell does "failed response 500 Internal Server Error after 310 ms" mean. Wes, Code Geek, help! Dusty???
36/0

7 comments:

  1. I am getting allergies just reading about your dog hair incident.

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  2. Ah the memories-so glad to only have two decrepit cats around now. Bandit and Bob surely made an impression on you regarding dog hair. Did you think YOUR husky would be different? Lala

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  3. I just think you are sending said dog the wrong message. He's going to be ALOT of trouble if he knows he's going to get a bath after every run :-)

    It was probably trying to autosave and the HTTP request timed out. Your post worked fine, so don't worry about it...

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  4. Ugh - sorry about the hair. $95 for grooming seems like a lot.

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  5. Petsmart touts that "special" shampoo thingamabobber that they 'guarantee will reduce the amount of shedding your dog will experience.'

    Dude. Snow dogs blow their coats 2 times a year. My two NEVER seem to coincide. :| I feel you on the snow dog hair problem.

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  6. I feel your pain, my spell checker here hasn't been working for a week now!

    Could you use of of those sponge attachments for cleaning a car with a garden hose work on a dog too? You can tell I'm not a dog person, but I love my cats!

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  7. Oh I love Huskies! Great dogs

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