For some strange reason (eloping to Switzerland, buying a house, throwing a party, injuries, etc.) our focus has not been on fitness and training this year. It has been six months of relative inactivity for the Romney/Edwards clan until this very day when two of us got off the couch and kicked some serious tail!!!! (pun intended, you'll see.)
Edwards recently looked into a duatholon called The Battle At Midway (BAM). He might have taken a pass on the competition but one of the categories caught his eye... DOGGIE "DOO"ATHALON. A category for humans and their dogs.
Beata isn't a pup anymore, and she's never run at a human cadence. We know she is fast in short sprints, but neither of us knew how she would hold up for the 10K. As for Edwards... he hasn't jogged more than a couple steps since last November. He did get on his Mountain Bike yesterday, but I wouldn't call it "training".
All of this added up to an Adventure, so we loaded up the car... mt. bike, race shoes, leashes, and poop bags... and made our way to Heber City this morning. Beata and Edwards were the team. The challenge: Run 5K of trail with your dog, Mountain Bike 11 miles while dog waits back in the transition area, Run another 5K with your dog.
They started the race by firing off a snow cannon. Twenty six minutes later the two of them came back... happy as clams and in second place for the "doo" category. Edwards jumped on his bike, Beata got some water and waited impatiently for him to return. 5K, hah! She was just getting warm. The biking wasn't easy and took everyone some time. Edwards rolled in, in first place for the "doo." He thought it was pretty cute when I handed Beata back and said, "She's ready to run" and they took off. Another twenty plus minutes later and our CHAMPIONS came running past the finish line!!!! Woo Hoo!
Overall, I would say this was the best morning of Beata's life. I wasn't on the trail with them, but the story goes that she would look back and pick up the pace when other dogs closed in on them. She was hungry for first. She couldn't have been prouder.
Ratso was also in his element: bumming bagels, sniffing the joint, and locating the food. "Hey, you got some pizza there? Pizza's over here guys!"
I am just a proud and amazed wife and dog mom. I'm related to the two best off-the-couch athletes in the whole world! WooHoo and ArrOoooo!
4 comments:
A family of winners! Congrats, Beata, Steve and proud Momma/Wife. I got your message, just let me know when works for you all. I have some ideas, we will see if they actually work.
That is sooooo awesome. Thanks for sharing. I'm so glad she's such a happy pup. She might even forget about me one of these days. . . But, of course, I always hope to see her soon. Actually, I'm hoping that once I'm a stay at home mom, Edwards will make time for walkies during the day so I can see the girl, or, maybe, I can come pick her up on my way. . .
I'm also glad you are so damn happy. Isn't it great?
I'd like to add that Romney was the perfect support person. She makes all of it so much easier that I might even do some racing again. My wife rocks!
Congrats on the win!! It sounds like a fun race.
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