The Coffee Shop Report!

See those pancakes?  Those are Congratulatory Pancakes!

Here's what happened:

My husband and I went for our normal Tuesday long run today and ended up with more than we bargained for.  Our 11 mile run turned into a 12 mile run that also happened to include running up and down small, grassy hills.  Why, you might ask?

Because of a puppy. Not my puppy; a runaway puppy being chased by a sweaty, tired and frustrated woman.  

We were just chugging along (I think we were only 3 miles into the run) when all of a sudden, we see this tiny, brown torpedo zooming past us.  It's some kind of Cockapoo puppy and man, is that dog moving!

We turn around to see where it came from and this woman was kind of running, kind of trotting behind it.  We waved to her and pointed ahead of us in the direction the puppy was still running and the woman started moving a little faster.

Jon and I conferred for a minute and decided to help so we started running after the dog. The puppy had finally tired out and was laying in the shade of a tree.  We figured we would try The Sheepdog Technique so we ran past (actively not looking at the puppy) and then turned around to run toward the puppy in an attempt to "herd" the puppy back in the direction of the owner.  It worked...  until the puppy saw the other woman.  Then the puppy began to employ The Zig Zag Technique and things got silly.

This puppy has all 3 (soon to be 4) of us darting, dashing, herding and running up and down the sides of those small hills behind by the LaGrave Field.  It was hot and it was funny... for about 5 minutes.  Then it quickly got to where I was willing to tackle this puppy with my entire body if I could just get close enough!  

 But we finally caught the dog, thanks to Jon and that construction man who helped us.  We headed off in one direction while Yolanda (it doesn't take long during A Ridiculous Puppy Chase to get to a first name basis) headed off in the other - the puppy held tight in her arms.  Everybody was exhausted yet we all felt like we had accomplished something! 

 We.  Got.  That.  Puppy.
(finally!)

Afterward, as Jon and I continued on our run, I thought about how quickly the 4 of us had bonded together and worked as a team.  It didn't take much.  In fact, it only took one small, brown puppy to bring a couple and 2 complete strangers together for over 30 minutes.  We laughed together, we worked together, we grimaced and cursed together and then we went our separate ways - all feeling pretty good about the end result of the Puppy Chase.  

So I guess I should say thanks to that nutty, speed ball of a Cockapoo because what she did was pretty impressive.  She took all 4 of us and turned us into A Team in a matter of minutes.  

Thanks, brown puppy for a great lesson in both humility and teamwork!  

And Yolanda?  

Don't ever let that puppy off leash again!