21.10.12

morning run:
Ginger
Gracie
Osita
Frijolita
Rita
Elewah
Daisy
Xmul
(8)

Long and winding road backwards: ~10k. Elewah chased a moto on doce right off the bat but straightened up after that and behaved herself. I thought we might go for a longer one today since we haven't in a while but I wasn't sure when we left; it took me a couple of kilometers to warm up and I wasn't sure how everyone was feeling so I left it undecided until we got to the head of the hidden trail. I let Xmul off the hook briefly there and she immediately rewarded me by jumping into the nearest charco up to her neck and swimming out towards some flamingos on the other side - obviously she had the energy to continue. She came back to me when I called her at least but she was on the leash for the rest of the run. There were lots of flamingos as we headed north but nothing compared to the number of them in the farthest charcos where the trail east runs into the north/south road to Xixim in the monte. I couldn't count how many there were; at least three large groups of over 100 individuals in successive groups of charcos as we headed south. I kept everyone close to me and there were no incidents. Fording the last charco before the road was pretty tough and there were many spots on the road south that also required careful and slow traversal; the bottom is frequently so slippery that the slightest misstep brings you down. I was going to bring us home by taking the berm to the swimming hole but I could see there were flamingos standing right on the berm when we rounded the corner so we again chose a difficult fording of that charco further north along the top of a much smaller, nastier berm that leaves you just north of the swimming hole. I had a tiny fall there thanks to Xmul continually crossing me up on the leash. Fording a charco with Xmul on the leash isn't something I would recommend but there were too many flamingos too close by to let her off. It wasn't a bad fall but just enough to scrape my knee. We also forded the charco right at the 1km mark (Tuesday's crossing) to get home a little quicker since I knew we had been out for a while. All in all everyone behaved themselves well and had a really good time; I paid special attention to Rita and every time I looked for her she was having a blast. Ginger is an ace.
GRADE: A