12.07.12

morning run:
Posey
Frijolita
Ernie
Ziggy
Stella
Twiggy
Mo
Mega
(8)

Hidden trail: ~8k. Stella was on the leash the entire way and Twiggy wasn't on even once. It was a fairly eventful run, although nothing too terrible happened. First off they did not wait for me at the shrimpery intersection like they always do; instead I suspect Ernie or Mega or both led the charge straight down the coco trail, possibly in pursuit of a marmot (there are lots around right now); I called them back and we headed out down the road to the land bridge and the dirty road. At the turn east off of the dirty road where it flattens out and overlooks the charcos someone (probably Zig) got between my feet and took me down hard; I scraped both knees bloody. I picked the pace up from there and kept us moving quickly all the way to the swimming hole, which has been completely topped off to overflowing by the recent rains and is now full of little crabs. I was a little trepidatious about taking Twigs all the way to the hidden trail so I watched her closely to the swimming hole and she looked fine; she didn't run too fast or horse around too much and she listened really well so I figured what the hell - it wasn't that much farther to go to the hidden trail than it has been on the last two runs she's taken. Mega was under control and listening to me although he was always out front with Posey (kind of cute). As we were nearing doce on the hidden trail I heard some barking to the north and several of them, leg by Mega and Ernie (!) took off up doce. I got to the road a few seconds behind them and could see a small, black dog ahead of Mega on doce about 500m to the north; I called Mega and the rest back to me and they came, although it took Megs a little bit to make up the distance. Ernie was huffing and puffing by the time he made it back. The little black dog darted west towards the beach about 800m up doce. I was therefore cautious while approaching the beach on the actual hidden trail but the cacti have grown up something fierce all along the path and I got hung up, literally; this gave the dogs a ~15second head start on me to the beach. By the time I got there about half of ours were ~50m north from where the trail lets out and I could see that the little black dog was in the water, out about 10m, swimming around furiously to avoid our pack. I called them the second I saw them and they all came running south, with the little black dog in the water barking at them. I took us south quickly and eventually noticed that the little dude had come out of the water and headed north - obviously not a dumb dog. We went back into the monte at the tortuga sign and there was no more fun and games from there on. I had Mega on the other end of the leash for the run up the trail but Mo and Ernie ran ahead more than I'd like - they have to get some work on that. Twigs ran to the construction site to the north at the very end but she was easily collected. All in all a good run with a few lapses and irritating accidents.
GRADE: B (too much yelling for an A)

morning swim:
Greta
(1)

Good girl.
GRADE: A