In the Pines

We had our first real run in the pines this past weekend. Slow but steady 3.8 miles at Mt. Misery (charming name, eh?) in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest.

I was hoping for colder temperatures, but it hovered around 47 degrees which meant lots of breaks. The dogs did well despite the temperature. I think they were just happy to be running those sandy trails again.

We’re heading back there this weekend to camp and mush. Can’t wait!

Beat the Heat

Summer returned with vengeance last week, and temperatures in the 80s and 90s meant no runs for my little team.

It’s finally starting to cool off, but we still have to take it slow. This morning was still around 60 degrees, so we only did a quick half mile around the neighborhood. 

Dexter has been running better than last season, though it’s too soon to make any real judgements. Denali has been easily distracted by squirrels, but she’s getting better with every run. Knox is doing well, although he tries to pull over and yap at a Labrador we pass by in a fenced yard. The team needs work all around, but they’re doing gret for so early in the season.

We have some cooler temperatures coming in on Sunday, so I’m planning to take the team out to Six Mile Run. Fingers crossed it stays nice and cold!

Mushing Season Begins

I took Denali camping up in New  Hampshire this past weekend, but I haven’t had time to go through the 500+ photos. So for now, here’s a picture from our first official run of the 2014-2015 season.

Happy fall!

Mushing Season is Here!

Hey everybody! Mushing season is back again, so I think it’s time I get back to posting on here. I’m taking a slightly different approach with our runs this season.

When Knox was little, I could manage bikejoring with all three. Not anymore! At least, not around my neighborhood. There are far too many distractions and I cannot stop all three dogs with my brakes. I actually have a pretty hard time stopping with just two. So yea, we bike carefully. Oh, I don’t think I mentioned it here yet, but I finally got a new bike! It’s a Trek 3700 mountain bike with disc brakes – a heck of a lot tougher than my previous bikes!

Into mid-October, I’m aiming to run the dogs every other day. There are still some random warm or overly humid days (like today) that I’ll skip. I don’t want to over-exert anybody after a long, low-key summer. For the most part, I run Denali and Knox first, then Denali and Dexter second. On some occasions, I’ll switch it up and run each dog separately.

Denali really is an amazing girl. She’s only a year and a half, but she’s teaching the boys more than I could ever do alone. Without her, Knox runs in sporadic bursts and doesn’t have a clean grasp of commands. Hook him up next to Denali, and she keeps him running steady and muscles him into turns.

Dexter runs well – in the Pine Barrens. At home, he still wants to sniff and mark. Denali doesn’t let him.

As it gets colder, I hope to be biking every day. I’ll also be heading down to the Pine Barrens with my new 90-pound rig as soon as the trails are cleared. I plan to eventually use one of my rigs for neighborhood runs, but I want to get the team used to it (safely on the trails) first. They’re a lot more difficult to maneuver than my bike, so I need to be very confident with the dogs’ abilities.

Oh, one last thing! I’m converting a spare bedroom in my house into a dog room. I’ll have photos of the renovation process posted once it’s completed.

2012-2013 Mileage to Date: 12.6