Detour

Riff and I often enjoy leashwalks around the neighborhood or in the park...but nothing quite takes the place of RUNNING.

The Riffster is, as Ziji said when she first laid eyes on him, "built for speed."  Long and lean.  He loves to run, so I run him every chance I get.  Sometimes I'll just sit on our backporch and we'll play The Toy Game...

...which is really just an amped-up game of tug, with some head-shaking and running-around-the-patio thrown in.

About five months ago, when I discovered I could finally jog with minimal pain,  I started 'doing laps' in the backyard.  At first I just bumbled along the little flat sections, pushing myself into a jogging motion.

It was tough.  You really lose muscle tone fast when you're laid-up after a back injury.  Especially if you like cookies as much as I do.

Riff always went down the path with me and encouraged me to go faster.  After a while (approximately forever) I felt up to tackling the short  'hill' sections of the path...and then - voila! - I was jogging the path, up and down our little hill...doing laps! Riff likes to run with me.  Keeper prefers to watch from the topside of the path, while Riff and I go back and forth, and around and around.

Sometimes we play games while we jog, because Riff is light-years faster than me and it's good for him to stay focused.  He likes 'Tug,' 'Retrieve' or 'Find the Toy.'  Jogging is good for agility, so I've been stubborn about getting out there every day, even when I'm not in the mood.  Jogging is like any addiction - a little rough at times, but the more you do it the more you want it.    I like to think we're working our way up to being able to jog around the lake at Riverfront...although Riff may always prefer the speed of our leash-less backyard.   Maybe I'll enter a 5k someday??  This week we've been toning up for the USDAA trial in Woodland.  We've been very excited about going....it's an RV trip!  Fun!


But yesterday this section of the path attacked me.
 

The very moment I was congratulating myself over how easy it's become to run up this section (we were on our fifth lap out of a planned twelve) I caught my toe on the bottom step...and the other steps quickly came up and smacked me.  Ow!!   First the knees...then I heard the bone in my left upper arm crack when it hit the edge of a step.  I laid there for a couple of minutes Ow!!! with Riff hovering over me, his eyes clouded with worry.  I asked him to 'find Jeff' and he took off...and brought back his toy.  Ah,well...he tried.  Finally decided I could try, too...then got up and walked back into the house.  Simple.

Jeff took me to the hospital right away.   X-rays, a shot of Toradol, blah blah.  Jeff took a photo showing how annoyed I was at this turn of events.  He said, "You broke your humerus and got humorless..."  Which made me laugh.  Although actually it was more of a snort.    I'll need to go back in a few days for more X-rays, etc...then back to physical therapy...

     
SIGH.  Couldn't sleep at all yesterday or last night.  Couldn't find a pain-free position, so I sat up in the family room watching a movie about Babe Ruth, and reading.  It's a 'humerus head fracture' - which totally sounds like a joke.  Might think of one, someday.  Too bad I'm left-handed, but how nice to have the right arm in good shape for driving!

We had to scratch Woodland.  Sad, sad.

Something wonderful this way comes, though.....at least I sure hope so.  What is the saying: "that which does not kill us makes us stronger"?  Something like that.

So...I've decided that this is just a bump in the agility road.  A little detour, that's all.  I need to slow down again, for a little while.   I'll keep my eyes and ears open...is the universe trying to teach me something?  Other than "lift up your damn feet"?

In the meantime, Riff will keep me playing.  He's a good dog....ear fluff and all!