24.12.14

morning run:
Gracie
Otto
Tuesday
Frankie
Daisy
Twiggy
Monkey
Steve McQueen
Hazel
(9)

Northern loop: ~7k. Tuesday was on the leash the whole way as usual and was stellar; Daisy left on the short leash but came off early at the turn north to the wooden shack. The pace was high for the first 3k: Tuesday was only interested in running and everyone else, even Monkey, agreed. I was trying to decide which northern route we should take as we were getting out to the border between what I call the southern and northern charcos when I noticed I only had eight. It took me a few seconds to realize it was Monkey who was missing: I had just seen her minutes before when I looked behind me to make sure we were all together. Somewhere between the road that goes to the swimming hole and the turn onto the palapa road she decided to ditch us and head home. I wasn't sure of that at the time, of course, and spent 20 minutes dragging everyone else around calling and looking for her, running various awful scenarios through my head. In the end the area in which she might be was pretty small, we exhausted most of it and it was obvious that she was not in hailing range. I took us home via the most direct way (the swimming hole) and, sure enough, she had beaten us home by 15-20 minutes. I don't know what got into her. It was deliciously cool and overcast, which she normally prefers for a run. There weren't a lot of bugs. We were on a route she's run many times before... still, she isn't talking so I guess we'll never know. Everyone else was perfect and stayed with me through the whole thing. If not for that it would've been a perfect, high-paced run.
GRADE: C (at least we all came home)