"The psychopath of least resistance is uphill on the way back."
What a pretty, muddy bow to tie on the latest edition of my journey in trail running. This time I got to bring my dog along and boy did she shine.
Mango Margaret Salsa is pound puppy. We picked her up from the shelter when she was five weeks old. Based on my genetic eyeball test she is part yellow lab, part I have no idea. At the present time, she is about eight hands high and weighs around 80 pounds. She is a very solid, well put together animal. We have been running long distances since she was about a year old. I tried to wait until she was pretty close to full grown before I started putting the miles on her. I managed to cause some knee damage to my last yellow, running on ice, and I wanted to do whatever I could to avoid that problem with this one. To digress, Mango is awesome, she is extremely loyal, protective of my girls, a good listener, and runs, runs, runs, but she is still a dog. I run a lot, probably 50 miles a week and with the exception of when it gets above 80 degrees, she runs almost all those miles at my side. We got her for many reasons, I wanted my girls to appreciate animals and not be fearful. I like having a big dog in the house when I'm not there and in the backyard when my wife and I are inside. My wife isn't a runner and having a partner with you certainly keeps you motivated and pushes the pace when early on. Finally, there is a benefit of having animals in the house and preventing allergies. So far we are one for two on that front, with one child having them and the other in the clear for now. Having said all of that, as much as everyone in the family benefits from the relationship with her, she serves a purpose and that's to put in work.
She put in some good work on Sunday. The Kansas City Trail Nerds are amazing group of runners whom put on trail races all over the metropolitan area, do trail maintenance, and spread positivity. When you finish one of their races the sense of accomplishment you feel is tantamount to finishing your first marathon. The races are hard. On Sunday it was a Fall like 55 degrees and raining. Perfect running whether according to them. Mind you, it had been raining for about two weeks, sometimes nearing flood conditions and sometimes like one of those fans you buy at the gift shop bungalow that spits a mist on you in a vain attempt to cool you down. Again, they would say ideal. So, it's a single track out and back route in the woods. There are at least three monster uphills and downhills going each way. Rocks the size of marbles, bowling balls, and footstools line the entire path. Not to mention logs, thorn bushes, poison ivy, roots, streams, and 90 other runners in my way. That will be the last time that happens. In an effort to keep the dogs and runners from getting tangled in leashes, they like to have the dogs start in the back. Certainly a sound theory in practice, but in actuality it caused more problems when you figure Mango and I passed around 77 people to finish 12th place overall and first dog in. That's 77 people to pass on a single track trail, flying, or better yet, sliding down mud strewn ridges, without knocking them over or then getting tangled up. By race end we were nearly covered in mud, up on two and four feet and she could have done another ten.
We when crossed the line in about 29:00 minutes we were applauded and lauded for being first dog in. It is funny how little anyone cared that I managed to wrangle this mighty beast and come across in less than thirty minutes. All anyone wanted to do was ask me about Mango and talk about her. Even in her hour of triumph my giant ego was trying to steal the show. Humility is a character trait that I need to be constantly working on. We wobbled over to the water spigot and rinsed off the best we could and headed to the car. As we drove home, the thoughts of how she attacked the hills and bounded through the mud made me smile.
She was right in her element and somehow, so was I.
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