Day 30

Just got in from our evening stroll/jog/sprint, & we are happy to report:

We made it! We have completed 30 Days of Jogging (& Sometimes Other Activities) With Dog!

And today we beat our goal of $600 with very generous gifts from my friends & comrades-in-arms in the struggle, Chris & Jenna! Thank you so much, guys!!!

Zoey & I have both enjoyed this project very much, & we agree that we will keep on after today. In fact, to prove how far she has come, Zoey is announcing a radical career move -- from lazy dog to ultra-marathoner & fitness model:

What can we say? Some dogs just pull off a pair of shorts & tank top better than others.

Again, thanks so much to Mama & Papa O'Brien, Jon, Corey Jo, Georganne, Val, Kate, Katie, The Hoff, Paul, & Chris! And thanks to everyone who wasn't able to donate to Lyon-Martin, but supported us in spirit!

Zoey says, "Big wet kisses for everyone! I didn't even eat anything disgusting today, I swear!"

If you're in SF this Sunday, please come celebrate with me & all the other fundraisers at Wild Side West on Cortland at 3pm!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Day 29

Another windy, but nice day today! We went out for a short trip up the block, & then retreated to our nice, warm house.

Zoey has been a very good sport about all the photos, but I think she's getting tired of being stalked by a camera:

Life in the public eye isn't easy, Zoey, but it's all been for a good cause!

Zoey says, "Two days left! If we reach our goal, I promised to sit pretty for a very special photograph on May 31! Please donate!"

Day 28

Zoey's knee seems a little stiff today, so instead of going out for a run, we gave her some doggie ibuprofen and spent some extra time on mental exercise: learning the name of one of her toys, practicing her "shake," & getting some quality chewing time in.

And once again, I rode a bike for 45 minutes in a 20 mph headwind, so I feel I got my exercise in. Yay San Francisco!

Zoey says, "Three days left! Please help us hit our goal! If we make it, we promise to post a video of us actually running. We swear it!"

Day 27

Dreary, rainy day today! Nice & cool for our run, though, so we were appreciative.

When we got home, Zoey very generously tried to help us with the laundry:

And then she spent the rest of the rainy afternoon rolled up in a blanket:

Zoey takes getting comfortable very seriously. Every night, she roots around in her dog beds, & blankets, & pillows, until she gets everything just right. Here is a video of a particularly good bout with her bedding:

Unfortunately, I missed the first 30 seconds, where she worked that blanket-pillow ball counter-clockwise all the way around the human bed (covered in a sheet to keep [some of] the dog hair out), throwing her dog bed onto the floor in the process. This is serious business.

Zoey says, "I'm not just crazy for comfortable bedding, I'm crazy for Lyon-Martin! Please donate! We're only $60 away from our goal!"

Day 26

Windy again, so we did two short trips around the block this afternoon, instead of one long one.

Exhausted, Zoey conked out on the couch after we got home from the second one:

She spent the afternoon happily chasing things & wagging her tail in her sleep.

Zoey says, "I had a dream where we hit our $600 goal before May 31! Please make my dream come true! Please donate!"

Day 25

A sunny, sunny day in San Francisco! Windy again, but we'll take what we can get.

Zoey did great out there today, & then spent the afternoon snoozing in her favorite sun spot:

Zoey says, "I'm too zenned out to ask you to donate today. But you know, please?"

Day 24

It's windy as all get out, as my father would say. But we ventured forth bravely anyway for a quick trip around the block.

We were both happy to get back inside the warm house, get in our jammies, & catch up on some television:

Zoey says, "Seven days to go, and 90% to goal! If you help us hit $600, I'll come give you snuggles, too!"

Day 23

Another successful run up & down the mountains of San Francisco!

Ok, we did (most of) one block 3 times. But she was panting at the end, & actually, on the jog down the hill, plopped her butt down & refused to run another step.

Zoey says, "Please help us meet our goal of $600! If we hit our goal early, maybe we can stop this madness early."

(No, Zoey, we won't.)

Day 22

The air is still! The air is not moving, even a little bit!

We just got in from probably the best run yet. I think she enjoyed herself.

Zoey says, "If you donate right now, maybe she'll take me out again."

Day 21

Horrible, horrible, scary wind today. So, more soccer & general frivolity in the garage for the dog, and for me, more exertion in the form of battling the headwind on my bike.

The wind hasn't brought in any fog yet, so Zoey has gotten to spend the entire afternoon basking in her favorite patch of sun in the 70-degree back porch:

For dogs, mental exercise is as important as physical exercise. For dogs healing from injuries, sometimes it's the only thing you can do to help them work out their energy every day. After Zoey's surgeries, but before she could walk on her own again, her foster mom Val spent a lot of time teaching her things to give her little brain a workout. Here is a video of Zoey showing off one of them: catching treats in midair.



Val told me once that when she first started teaching her how to do it, Zoey would just sit there, letting the treats bounce off her blocky little head. How far she's come!

Zoey says, "There's only one thing I love more than when treats rain down on me from the heavens, & that's helping Lyon-Martin! Please donate!"

Day 20

Another stupid windy day. We went out for a very quick tour & came back in. Poor thing just hates the wind.

She did great though, & really gets what she's supposed to be doing. I think she enjoys the short half-block or one-block sprints more than the longer couple-of-block-long jogs. I think I do too. This project should probably be called Sprinting With Dog instead of Jogging With Dog.

As usual, when we got home, she flopped on the kitchen floor & worked hard to restore all that energy she just expended:

One of our favorite someones has suggested that perhaps Zoey can provide a personalized, autographed photograph of her adorable self to everyone who donates. Great idea! Zoey is very into it. We'll get started on those right away, & send them out on June 1 to celebrate the (no doubt) successful end to our project! 

In the meantime, it's not too late to get on Zoey's exclusive list! Zoey says, "Don't you want a photo of me? I am perfect for your home, school, or office? My fawn color goes with everything! Please donate!"

Day 19

Woo, what a day! It was hot & sunny, so we waited until evening to go out. After a long, arduous day of snoozing in the sunshine outside, & wagging her tail in her sleep inside, she hardly had any energy left over for our run.

 When we got home, she was not interested in my stalking her with the camera:

She just doesn't understand the demands of her public.

As I mentioned yesterday, thanks to the generosity of all the kind & generous people who have donated, we are within spitting distance of our $600 goal! As a special thank you, here is a video of Zoey drinking (read: spilling) water after our run tonight. I put the bowl on a rug that turns dark brown when it gets wet, so that you can get a sense of what a mess she makes as the water squirts out of her mouth & over the sides of the bowl, & then as it drains out of her underbite & missing teeth when she looks up.




Zoey says, "Hey I can't help it that I'm adorable. If we meet our goal early, there will be more of my cutenesses in store! Even more cutenesses if we beat the goal! Please donate!"

Day 18

Today was a banner day!

Not only did we have AJ's company on our run this evening, we were joined by one of our favorite people of all time: Amanda!

In addition to hiking the mountains of San Francisco together, we did a fun thing where we posted Amanda at the end of a block, jogged with Zoey to the other end, & then sprinted back to Amanda as fast as we could. We did that a couple times, & Zoey definitely had fun with it. Happy butt wiggles all over the place.

When we got back to the house & took Zoey back into the yard to take care of her business, we got to share the music coming from the neighbor's party. Zoey was really into it:

After some inspired dancing by all in the back yard, we came inside to find the very exciting surprise of Mr. Paul Weir's donation! Paul, you've brought us up to 90% to our goal of $600! Thank you so much!!

Zoey says, "Mr. Weir! You & I share a love of spreadsheets & a love of supporting Lyon-Martin! Other friends, please follow Paul's lead, & either take an Advanced Excel class, or donate to support the cause!"

Day 17

The wind! The wind keeps blowing! Today we had AJ's company, however, which made everything much better, & we all got some solid jogging training in.

After the run, AJ enjoyed a delicious treat:

And Zoey showed her appreciation for AJ's joining us tonight:

Zoey says, "If you donate to Lyon-Martin, maybe AJ will get inspired & we will all run together all the time! Fun! Fun! FUN!"

Day 16

The wind let up just a little today, so we went out for a quick one just up & down the block. The noises the wind makes really do rattle her, the poor thing, so I kept it short & sweet.

She's very excited that she got to show off her fancy new leather collar to the whole world:

And I'm very excited to thank my partner-in-crime & co-conspirator at work, The Hoff, for her donation today! Thank you so much for your support! And also thank you for the great idea of putting a cape on Zoey when we run.

Zoey says, "We're 73% to goal! Achieving our goal will be almost as incredible as when I manage to steal something out of the compost bin! Please donate!"

Day 15

Halfway through our month of jogging! And still going strong!

Although honestly, after 3 days of riding a bike in this wind, I am totally exhausted, & was very much tempted to just skip today & collapse in a pile on the couch when I got home. But that wouldn't do right by the generous people who have donated to support this project, & it wouldn't do right by Zoey, either, so we soldiered on!

The wind is really kind of scary up here again today, so we did more soccer in the garage. I think we're both feeling a little antsy to get back out there & run around.

Speaking of the generous people who have donated to support us, a very big thank you goes out to my good friend & genius coworker Katie for her donation today! Now we're 65% to goal! Thank you thank you thank you!

Zoey says, "Please donate to Lyon-Martin! See? All the cool kids are doing it!"

Day 14

It's May 14! It's Zoey's birthday! She's five!

There is no break from training, even for birthdays. But the wind was furious again today -- branches from trees were literally falling down in the street as I walked home. So, instead of risking life & limb (heh heh), we played soccer indoors again, along with a serious game of tug.

Afterwards, Zoey got a nice bully stick to work on:

Zoey is too well-mannered to talk with her mouth full. But you know what she's thinking: "Please donate!"

Day 13

Another successful run!

One thing I'm noticing is that Zoey is much happier to run up hills than she is to run on the flat blocks. I have no explanation for this.

I do want to point out that when I say hills, I do mean San Francisco-grade hills. This is our house:

For you cyclists, runners, & civil engineers out there, the grade of our street is somewhere between 10 &18%. 

We're going to be fitness monsters after two more weeks of this.

As usual, Zoey flopped on the kitchen floor to cool off when we got home. Today, she whispered a secret in her sleep:

Zoey says, "Please donate to Lyon-Martin! If you do, I will try my best to produce more cute freckles."

Day 12

Another successful day of Jogging With Dog for Lyon-Martin!

I'm not sure Zoey is as into this project as I am:

But I'm sure she'll come around!

Zoey says, "Please donate! It will make my humans happy, & if they're happy, they might decide to buy me a steer."

Day 11

It's 46 degrees this evening, windy, & you can see the fog wisping in over the tops of the houses, but still we soldier on!

Tonight, instead of flopping on the kitchen floor after our trip around the neighborhood (who needs cooling down in 46-degree weather?), she's diving into her dinner with gusto:

That green thing is a device that makes her work to get the kibble out. It's better mental stimulation than just eating out of a bowl. And she's actually eating a kibble made from lamb, duck, eggs, fish, fruit, & vegetables. No horse.

Today a huge huge thank you goes out to my oldest friend in the world, Kate, for bringing us up to 61% of our $600 goal!!! Zoey is sending you virtual sloppy dog kisses! I swear she did not just lick her butt.

Zoey says, "Please donate to Lyon-Martin! I will bring you breakfast kibble in bed for a week!"

Day 10

More wind, & just a generally overstimulating environment out there today (dogs barking, weirdly backed up traffic, etc.), so we did some indoor training with the soccer ball again.

This isn't her at her best, cutest, & most ridiculous soccer playing -- it was hard to capture it while trying to film it at the same time -- but this gives the general idea of what it looks like:



We actually played twice today. She's fun. And when I wasn't filming, I kept us both running up & down the length of the garage continuously for a while, so I think it was pretty decent exercise for both of us. Zoey agrees:

Zoey says, "I'll let you rub my hairless little belly if you donate!"

Day 9

Today we're having high winds. 35 mph gusts. Zoey hates that kind of wind. I hate that kind of wind.

We did a quick spin around the neighborhood with our very good friend AJ, coming home before we could get hit by a flying garbage can. Since that wasn't much of an effort toward developing our fitness, we spent half an hour in the garage playing soccer with Zoey. She's become a very accomplished soccer player, & is an especially fast goalie.

It tired her out enough for her usual post-jog routine to happen: a stop to slurp & slosh water all over the floor, & a big flop on the cool kitchen floor:

The soccer wasn't so much in the way of exercise for me, but I feel I got some good fitness training in today just by riding my bike home from work in a ridiculous headwind, so I say today still counts!

Zoey says, "Zzzzzzzz.....pleazzzzzzzze donate......zzzzzz...."

Day 8

Went out after work for another short trip around the neighborhood, still alternating walking & running. Zoey is definitely getting the picture that when I start to move ahead of her & say "faster," that she is supposed to start running.

A giant thanks goes out to Zoey's foster mom, Val, who donated today, bringing us up to 57% of our goal for Lyon-Martin! Thank you so much!

Let me tell you about Val. She is a hero to us. She is the person who rescued Zoey after she & her brother Diesel & a bunch of other animals were abandoned at some crappy rental property in the Mojave Desert. She was able to rehome the other animals, & despite having no real room at her own house -- & no way of knowing what exactly was wrong with poor limping Zoey & if it were even fixable -- she took the dogs in until she could find them homes.

After posting about their plight on an online forum, people started chipping in whatever they could to help -- $2000 was raised for vet bills & other expenses for both dogs -- and a more suitable situation was found for Diesel.

As it turned out, Zoey had tears in both knees, & needed surgery on each one. Val paid out of her pocket for whatever wasn't covered by the money people donated, or by additional money donated to Zoey by Pit Bull Rescue Central. Then she nursed her back to health (& began her training -- she's a very polite pup!), which took almost a year, and drove her all the way up to Northern California to meet us.

Here's a picture of one of her scars:

We took Zoey to an orthopedic vet for a 6-months-after-surgery checkup last April. The vet was thrilled with the excellent care & rehabilitation Val had provided, & cleared Zoey for regular dog life. 

I checked with our current vet before starting this jogging project just to be sure. Good to go!

Zoey literally is alive today only because of Val's incredible efforts. We are incredibly grateful to you, Val, for everything you did for Zoey, & for everything you have done to support us & help us become the very best guardians we can be. 

Day 7

The sun was back out today, the weather was warm, & we had a great little trip around the neighborhood. AJ, tired as she was, even decided to come out with us, making it even more fun.

Zoey showed her appreciation after we got back home:

One week down in this 31-day challenge! It's definitely been a challenge to run on uneven city sidewalks, be feeding her training treats to reinforce  good behavior & responses to my cues, & also not trip over her or bang my knees on her hard head, but so far it's been a lot of fun. 

Zoey says, "24 days to go to meet our goal of $600! If you help us get there, I promise I will come help you with your springtime weeding. I'm very good at stomping out weeds...& unfortunately, everything else. But I'm really cute so who can get mad?"

Day 6

Got out there again today! Another quick trip around the neighborhood, a mix of running & walking.

The weather has cooled off a bit, although it's weirdly humid, & we've had some rain. Zoey is clearly disappointed:

Despite her mopey mood, she still has a message: "Please donate to Lyon-Martin, if you can. If we make our goal of $600, we might just post a bonus video of me doing a trick!"

Day 5

Day 5 and training continues!

Another short toot around the neighborhood this afternoon, & Zoey came home tuckered out:

Still doing way more walking than running, but that seems to be the way to do this. And in any case, as they say, a tired dog is a good dog, so this is perfectly fine with me.

Many people are now asking me for video of our jogs. I am hoping to enlist the help of famous Photographer Johnstone soon on that; in the meantime, here is a video of Zoey getting treats out of a (clean) takeout box to hopefully tide her public over:




Zoey says, "This running thing is for the birds, but I'm happy to do it to help raise money for my favorite human clinic!"

Day 4

Another beautiful, sunny, warm morning! I was excited to get out there; Zoey not so much. She has a little arthritis in her knees, & we think that sometimes they bother her a bit in the morning. So we took a little stroll, trotted around just a tiny bit, & came back. Got some good practice with the directional & speed commands (ex. 'this way,' 'faster,' etc.) that will come in handy later.

It's such a nice day, I have been thinking about taking her out again before I go out to meet some friends in a bit, but this is pretty much what I've been looking at all afternoon:

Zoey has a message for you, asking for your donation here, but she doesn't seem able to rouse herself long enough to tell me what it is.

Day 3

Today, Zoey was still a little skittish, so I kept it short again. Same 3 blocks' worth of jogging on the same one block, but today I really ran it because I wanted to give her a chance to work out some nervous energy she built up when the neighbor's dog barked at us again as we left the house. In terms of speed, think more like gallop than trot. By the third pass, she was panting & dragging behind me, but still putting in the effort. What a champ!

And as for myself, I was very surprised & excited to see that I could outlast her. These past couple years of commuting by bike has done wonders.

Back at home, after slurping some water, she immediately threw herself down on the cool kitchen floor:

For anyone aware that we're having freakish 80-degree weather here & concerned that I'm killing the dog or myself, don't worry -- I wait until the temperature has cooled down into the more normal 60's, & go out then.

As for progress on my fundraising, I am excited to report that I'm now 50% to my goal, thanks to a generous donation from Momma Arave! Thank you so much, Georganne!!!


Message from Zoey to everyone else: "If you donate to Lyon-Martin, I swear I'll eat my vegetables!"

Day 2

Today's run was a little rocky.

Something seems to be bothering little Zoey. Her mood was a little edgy, & she was very nervous the whole time we were out. Maybe it was the neighbor's dog going nuts at the window as we left the house that riled her up? Or maybe her allergies are bothering her? Or maybe Mercury is in retrograde? It could be anything, & we'll never find out what it is. We often call her Dog Of Mystery.

I kept the outing short & sweet when I saw how uncomfortable she was. I could tell by her very slow walking, her refusal to go with me down certain streets, & how overly concerned she seemed about every passing car. I got her excited enough to do a little alternating jogging/walking near the house -- only about 3 blocks' worth (which I did going back & forth on just one block), but it's something.

Had quite a time trying to actually get her back home, though, after that. All of a sudden she was wanting to go up the hill, away from the house, & started pulling her donkey maneuver, bracing herself with her front paws, stubbornly refusing to go with me. No, little puppy, you think you want to stay out, but we'll both be sorry when you start barking at everything in sight in about three minutes. Luckily, her brain is the size of a lemon, so she's easy to trick, & we got home just fine a few minutes later.

Back home, she was back to her normal self, stretching out on the bed & sloshing water all over the place.

The donkey maneuver always makes me a little annoyed, but it's impossible to stay annoyed when her tail starts fwapping the bed like that.

Onward!




Zoey says "Roorooroo...please donate! I'll come chase all your squirrels away for you!"

Day 1!

Today is officially Day 1!

Just got in from about half an hour of alternating walking/jogging, like the other day. While we were running, we passed some things that would ordinarily be scary or overstimulating (a loud truck, some excited dogs, a guy rolling a garbage can out of his garage) -- she just kept running without even a forehead furrow, like a little champ! She doesn't seem tuckered out at all, but I worked up a little sweat, so that seems right, I guess. Seems like we're more or less on the right track, Little Zo & me.

In terms of my goal of raising $600 for Lyon-Martin, I am starting the month off strong: 46% to goal! Huge thanks to my parents, my good friend & neighbor Jon, and my friend from afar & fellow homesteader-in-the-city Corey Jo for getting Zoey & me off to a strong start!

Please help if you can! Zoey promises big wet kisses to anyone who donates.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christinedarosa/30DaysofHealth2013

Pre-Day 1 test run, April 29

A few people have been surprised by this business of having to train a dog to run. Don't they just naturally run & run & run, ever so happily? Dogs, of course, do like to run, but they're designed for short sprints, not distance running. If you want to run distances with your dog, you have to train her up, same as you would do for yourself.

Also, when you go jogging, the idea is obviously that you do actually want to sustain a certain speed for a certain length of time -- you don't stop every ten feet to look at something or sniff a tree trunk. So you have to teach them that, too.

This dog specifically has knee issues that I need to be careful to consider, as well -- not taking the time to build up the strength of her muscles & tendons will lead nowhere good. 

And she is also lazy. She would literally sleep in until noon every day if we let her.

Our vet & dog trainers have all been very stern with me about starting very slowly. I'm not sure if they think I'm a marathoner or something, but the reality is that I'm not built for distance running either. In fact, I hate running. But I think Zoey is very cute when she runs, so I'm counting on that to sustain me.

On Monday I tried doing a jog-a-block/walk-a-block/jog-a-block thing for a few minutes.  I had fun peeking at her cute floppy ears as we went, & she seemed to have a lot of fun trotting along there. In fact, for probably the first time ever, she wasn't ready to go back home after 20 minutes out in the neighborhood. She's from the Mojave desert, & has only been in the city for a year, so she usually gets overwhelmed by all the city sights & sounds pretty quickly. One of our dog trainers told me that some nervous dogs like running, because they have less time to get worked up about scary things they see along the way. Seems like it might be true for her, because she was still excited to be out there after half an hour.

It's all very encouraging! On to the project!

Here we go!

This is the exciting adventure of how I am training both our dog Zoey & myself to jog, by committing to jogging together each & every day during the month of May, while asking people to sponsor me to benefit of Lyon-Martin Health Services, a vital community clinic in San Francisco. 


The idea is that by May 31, Zoey & I will have built a little more fitness & a new habit, & if I reach my fundraising goal, Lyon-Martin will have $600 more dollars to put toward the excellent care they deliver every day.

You can read more detail about the clinic & my project, & also support my project by donating on my fundraising page. 

In the meantime, at the suggestion of a very important person, I am chronicling our misadventures here.