I wish I knew how they really feel.
We had our first weekend at the beach without Billy. Goldie ran around the backyard looking for ... what? Billy? I wish I knew.
We had some visitors, the sister-in-law and her partner. And their two dogs, a Shih-Tzu Pomeranian cross (Lucky) and a cross between that dog and a Cocker Spaniel (Sooty). Literally. Lucky is Sooty's father (sire?). Lucky got lucky!
And how cute is Sooty. A small dog, but with spaniel paws, spaniel ears and those beautiful spaniel eyes!
In they came at the front door, or should I say in they flew like two flying doormats. A growl from Goldie was the initial greeting, then we let them all out into the back yard to sort things out for themselves.
They tore around like rabbits on steroids.
After a while we opened the back door and in they flew at a hundred miles an hour. They spent the next five minutes investigating the house, then they found themselves a comfortable spot in the lounge room and settled down.
Except Sooty kept jumping up onto the couch. Her 'owners' kept telling her to get down, and we kept telling them she was fine. (If you have dogs you are training to keep off the furniture, it would not be a good idea to visit us, as your training will go right off the rails!)
I ended up with Sooty in my lap, stroking her beautiful black curls and whispering sweet nothings into her spaniel ears. She loved it. Goldie wasn't too fussed, she's over being jealous.
Went for a late afternoon walk to the beach. Go crazy, dogs! What a sight. Bittersweet, of course, as we were missing Billy's familiar lope along the sand.
At the end of the weekend, back home to the suburbs. Goldie went outside to an empty back yard, looking for ... what?
5/25/2004
5/21/2004
Eight is more than enough.
Moving into winter has its advantages.
One of them isn't running a hill session at Royal Park. For one thing, it's dark and you tend to trip over dead branches. For another thing, the pathway we use is getting old and cracking up, making it hazardous.
Last night it had also been raining, and there's nothing worse than doing stretches on cold, wet ground.
On the bright side, it wasn't cold, in fact I probably overdressed, expecting it to be colder.
I jumped off the tram from work at Royal Park station, drove to the University, changed in the car, ran in to pick up any stragglers, found Theo and Andrew and jogged with them back to Royal Park, about a mile.
The group was halfway through its warmup routine and soon we were steaming and ready to start. It's a great group, with runners of all abilities from really fast to really slow and everyone encourages each other.
The course is a 550 metre pathway starting at Flemington Road by the tennis court and ending where it crosses the West Coburg tramline which snakes through the park. (The course can be seen as the top lateral of the triangular shape appearing above the Figure 8 in the map.) It is a gradual rise to begin with the gradient increasing 150 metres from the end.
The session was eight of these, jogging back down after each. This is a regular training session, once every month or so, but the most repeats I had done for probably a few years was six, so this was going to be testing.
I completed the eight by running more conservatively than I have done in the past and then blasting the last one in about 1:43.
Jogged back to the University track then home for dinner.
One of them isn't running a hill session at Royal Park. For one thing, it's dark and you tend to trip over dead branches. For another thing, the pathway we use is getting old and cracking up, making it hazardous.
Last night it had also been raining, and there's nothing worse than doing stretches on cold, wet ground.
On the bright side, it wasn't cold, in fact I probably overdressed, expecting it to be colder.
I jumped off the tram from work at Royal Park station, drove to the University, changed in the car, ran in to pick up any stragglers, found Theo and Andrew and jogged with them back to Royal Park, about a mile.
The group was halfway through its warmup routine and soon we were steaming and ready to start. It's a great group, with runners of all abilities from really fast to really slow and everyone encourages each other.
The course is a 550 metre pathway starting at Flemington Road by the tennis court and ending where it crosses the West Coburg tramline which snakes through the park. (The course can be seen as the top lateral of the triangular shape appearing above the Figure 8 in the map.) It is a gradual rise to begin with the gradient increasing 150 metres from the end.
The session was eight of these, jogging back down after each. This is a regular training session, once every month or so, but the most repeats I had done for probably a few years was six, so this was going to be testing.
I completed the eight by running more conservatively than I have done in the past and then blasting the last one in about 1:43.
Jogged back to the University track then home for dinner.
5/20/2004
Running around the zoo in the cold and dark.
While we were warming up, or trying to warm up, someone remarked he had been colder once - in Canada.
Thanks dude. This is Australia. It's meant to be a Mediterannean climate.
We started at the south-east corner of Princes Park, after doing run-throughs (fast warm-up semi-sprints over eighty metres) on the darkest and wettest section of the entire Princes Park circuit. Like, can we do it somewhere I can actually see? Guess not. The coach is such a creature of habit.
So the session goes like this: run hard for eleven minutes, jog gently for three. Repeat four times.
Heading north we turned into Princes Park at the old railway line, followed it through to Royal Park, hard right at Royal Park station, left at Park Street by which time the first eleven minutes had elapsed. Three minutes jogging found us on Oak Street where we launched into the second repeat, up through Royal Park to the Hockey Centre (Melbourne is basically filled with parks, gardens and sports centres!) finishing outside the Zoo entrance. The third repeat ran clockwise around the zoo ending back in Princes Park with the final repeat a circuit of Princes Park ending up back at the track (which can be seen at the bottom right of the Royal Park link above - look for the red track encircling a white pitch).
Not so cold now. We were steaming. It was a long hard session, so into the showers after warm-down stretches and off to a well-earned dinner.
Thanks dude. This is Australia. It's meant to be a Mediterannean climate.
We started at the south-east corner of Princes Park, after doing run-throughs (fast warm-up semi-sprints over eighty metres) on the darkest and wettest section of the entire Princes Park circuit. Like, can we do it somewhere I can actually see? Guess not. The coach is such a creature of habit.
So the session goes like this: run hard for eleven minutes, jog gently for three. Repeat four times.
Heading north we turned into Princes Park at the old railway line, followed it through to Royal Park, hard right at Royal Park station, left at Park Street by which time the first eleven minutes had elapsed. Three minutes jogging found us on Oak Street where we launched into the second repeat, up through Royal Park to the Hockey Centre (Melbourne is basically filled with parks, gardens and sports centres!) finishing outside the Zoo entrance. The third repeat ran clockwise around the zoo ending back in Princes Park with the final repeat a circuit of Princes Park ending up back at the track (which can be seen at the bottom right of the Royal Park link above - look for the red track encircling a white pitch).
Not so cold now. We were steaming. It was a long hard session, so into the showers after warm-down stretches and off to a well-earned dinner.
5/14/2004
Vale, Billy.
Billy died yesterday after the very fast onset of a suspected brain tumour.
We adopted Billy from the Greyhound Adoption Program at age eighteen months.
He apparently would not run and we suspect he was treated cruelly, as he was afraid of most men.
Billy was white and fawn, the most beautiful colour, with a fawn love-heart shape on his side. He joined our twelve-year-old Brittany, Goldie, as part of the family. We had also adopted Goldie, aged nine, when her elderly owner had died. Goldie was the alpha dog and they got on fine. They would sleep with their heads on each other, or occasionally, sitting on each other!
Gradually Billy overcame his fears and was extremely well-adjusted and happy. When he became excited, usually at the mention of the three key words in his life - walk, beach and chicken - he would pick up the nearest soft object, such as a soft toy or a shoe, and throw it in the air or maybe just go and place it on the lounge room floor.
We spent much time at the beach where Billy would break out into a kind of half-hearted gallop - you could tell he was never going to be a racer. And why should he? They were originally court dogs in the days of the Pharaohs, not money-making machines for cruel people with dollar signs in their eyes looking for a quick buck.
After visits to the beach, we would always go sit in the sun outside the Blairgowrie cafe, where dogs frequently outnumber people.
Billy's fifteen minutes of fame occurred when he was photographed at the launch of the University of Melbourne Canine Blood Bank, (that's not him in the picture) an important new veterinary facility. His photo appeared in the Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia's largest selling daily newspaper.
He also appeared at several Greyhound Adoption Program promotions in shopping malls, where these docile and beautiful dogs go on display for children to pat - a PR exercise necessary because so many still believe they are aggressive or vicious dogs.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
So, vale Billy.
It's hard coming home and having to clear out their bedding, put away their harness, look at their empty kennel.
And then, with tears welling in your eyes, you think, oh my, it's only a dog.
Thank God.
I think you know what I mean.
We adopted Billy from the Greyhound Adoption Program at age eighteen months.
He apparently would not run and we suspect he was treated cruelly, as he was afraid of most men.
Billy was white and fawn, the most beautiful colour, with a fawn love-heart shape on his side. He joined our twelve-year-old Brittany, Goldie, as part of the family. We had also adopted Goldie, aged nine, when her elderly owner had died. Goldie was the alpha dog and they got on fine. They would sleep with their heads on each other, or occasionally, sitting on each other!
Gradually Billy overcame his fears and was extremely well-adjusted and happy. When he became excited, usually at the mention of the three key words in his life - walk, beach and chicken - he would pick up the nearest soft object, such as a soft toy or a shoe, and throw it in the air or maybe just go and place it on the lounge room floor.
We spent much time at the beach where Billy would break out into a kind of half-hearted gallop - you could tell he was never going to be a racer. And why should he? They were originally court dogs in the days of the Pharaohs, not money-making machines for cruel people with dollar signs in their eyes looking for a quick buck.
After visits to the beach, we would always go sit in the sun outside the Blairgowrie cafe, where dogs frequently outnumber people.
Billy's fifteen minutes of fame occurred when he was photographed at the launch of the University of Melbourne Canine Blood Bank, (that's not him in the picture) an important new veterinary facility. His photo appeared in the Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia's largest selling daily newspaper.
He also appeared at several Greyhound Adoption Program promotions in shopping malls, where these docile and beautiful dogs go on display for children to pat - a PR exercise necessary because so many still believe they are aggressive or vicious dogs.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
So, vale Billy.
It's hard coming home and having to clear out their bedding, put away their harness, look at their empty kennel.
And then, with tears welling in your eyes, you think, oh my, it's only a dog.
Thank God.
I think you know what I mean.
5/13/2004
Dog news.
Billy the Greyhound is seriously ill, has been sick for quite a few weeks but has taken a sharp downturn. Been back and forth to the vet who is a greyhound specialist, he's very good so Billy is in the best of hands.
Could be a brain tumour, off to a specialist tomorrow. It's not looking good for Billy.
Goldie the Brittany continues to astound with her robustness and energy. If you want a hardy dog, get a Brittany. But only if you can exercise it a couple of hours a day.
If not, a greyhound may be perfect. Despite a reputation for needing exercise, they are happy with going out a couple of brief times a day and the rest of the time they lay around. And they are extremely clean dogs and shed very little hair.
Could be a brain tumour, off to a specialist tomorrow. It's not looking good for Billy.
Goldie the Brittany continues to astound with her robustness and energy. If you want a hardy dog, get a Brittany. But only if you can exercise it a couple of hours a day.
If not, a greyhound may be perfect. Despite a reputation for needing exercise, they are happy with going out a couple of brief times a day and the rest of the time they lay around. And they are extremely clean dogs and shed very little hair.
5/07/2004
Fifty years since the four minute mile.
To the day.
So it was an appropriate moment to do a track session consistently of 1000m repeats at the old university track surrounded by sandstone buildings and playing fields.
It was a cold evening but we soon warmed up. We had brought Goldie the Brittany spaniel along - she was tied up just off the track near the finishing post watching everyone with great interest and getting plenty of attention and pats.
It was to be a tough session with just sixty seconds 'rest' between repeats.
After an extensive warm-up, we started.
Went through the first 1000 in 3.29. Then a 3.32. At this point, Hamish's session was over due to a slight hamstring twinge. I was alternating in the lead with Theo. A 3.33 brought us up to half way. The fourth repeat clocked in at 3.36 and then a 3.38. I dashed out the sixth repeat in 3.18 with a fast last lap. Finished! Two kilometre warm-down, twenty minutes of stretching, then home to a warm house and dinner.
Won't be breakin' any four minute miles soon. At least I'm still getting around the track.
So it was an appropriate moment to do a track session consistently of 1000m repeats at the old university track surrounded by sandstone buildings and playing fields.
It was a cold evening but we soon warmed up. We had brought Goldie the Brittany spaniel along - she was tied up just off the track near the finishing post watching everyone with great interest and getting plenty of attention and pats.
It was to be a tough session with just sixty seconds 'rest' between repeats.
After an extensive warm-up, we started.
Went through the first 1000 in 3.29. Then a 3.32. At this point, Hamish's session was over due to a slight hamstring twinge. I was alternating in the lead with Theo. A 3.33 brought us up to half way. The fourth repeat clocked in at 3.36 and then a 3.38. I dashed out the sixth repeat in 3.18 with a fast last lap. Finished! Two kilometre warm-down, twenty minutes of stretching, then home to a warm house and dinner.
Won't be breakin' any four minute miles soon. At least I'm still getting around the track.
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