10.11.14

morning run:
Gracie
Truman
Rita
Rufus
Jack
Daisy
MoMo
Xmul
Lex
(9)

Northern charcos: ~8k. Leaving with Xmul and Rufus both on leashes is like some kind of training exercise that would've appealed to Roman gladiators: we go crashing through the wilderness at a high rate of speed so I just focus on keeping my feet under me and my mouth closed (you never know what might fly in there otherwise). I let Rufus off when I felt some slack in his leash as we turned north towards the wooden shack and he was good for the rest of the run. Daisy was good off the leash, especially in the first 200m when she usually takes runs at other dogs in her over-excitement. Instead this time she stayed close to me along with everyone else and we pushed down the trail in fits and starts, at times crazily fast only to stop suddenly as everyone surged together. Once on the shrimpery road things evened out and everyone was really into running. I was thinking perhaps the hidden trail but the slog down to the beach is going to be absolutely terrible right now after the rain we've had: I don't think even I am that grizzled. The monte was nice after a hard rain yesterday so I decided on a loop to the north; the charcos had a lot of fresh water in them and the general stench from things drying out was gone. We took the same route we would take to get to the hidden trail but instead continued on north and looped around gently to the south through the charcos; the "road" we normally use on this route was completely overgrown and under water in many places. It was a bit slow in spots because it was so slippery; even the dogs have a hard time running on that stuff so I walked us through the worst parts, in water up to my shins in some places. We went by the swimming hole coming home but I took us back via the blue bag trail instead of the alt. land bridge... we've had awful luck on that one little stretch from the intersection to the alt. land bridge the last few runs so I decided to avoid it completely. Since Rufus, Jack and Truman all like to charge north on our road when we get home I nipped this impulse in the bud by putting Truman on the other end of the leash with Xmul and Rufus on the short leash again as we reached the coco trail heading home. This worked perfectly: everyone stuck to me like a little cloud on the last trail home and we all arrived at the gate together.
GRADE: A