Holly Zimmermann

(Click here for the English version) Das ist Leni. Sie und ich, wir sind gute Freunde. Sie macht das absolut klar, indem sie total ausflipps wenn sie mich in meinen Laufschuhen sieht. Leni ist eine 7-jährige weibliche Schokoladen-Labrador und wir laufen seit einigen Jahren regelmäßig zusammen. Heute haben wir Bergsprints gemacht. Bergauf sprinten, bergab joggen, wiederholen. Zuerst dachte sie, dass ich verrückt war, aber nach den ersten paar Mal hatte sie den Dreh raus. Angeregt durch das Piepsen meiner GPS-Uhr fingen wir an, stoppen, dann umdrehen. Am Ende hatte sie Spaß mit dem Spiel und wollte nicht aufhören. Aber Leni ist nicht mein Hund. Sie gehört zu unserem Nachbarn, was für meine Familie ein unschlagbares Deal ist. Wir passen auf sie auf, wenn ihr Familie unterwegs oder in Urlaub ist; wir müssen nicht früh aufstehen, nicht im Regen oder kalt spazieren gehen; noch müssen wir sie nicht füttern oder die Tierarztrechnungen bezahlen. Und weswegen liebt sie uns nicht weni...

Leni with my Persian cat keeping her in sight Meet Leni.  She and I are good friends. She makes that absolutely clear by totally flipping out upon seeing me in my running shoes. Leni is a 7-year-old female chocolate Labrador and we’ve been running together regularly for several years. Today we did hill sprints. Sprint up, jog down, repeat. At first, she thought I was nuts, but after the first couple of times she got the hang of it. Prompted by the beeping of my GPS watch we’d start, stop and then turn around and jog downhill. By the end she was having fun with the game and didn’t want to stop. But Leni is not my dog. She belongs to our neighbor, which is an unbeatable deal for my family. We dog-sit her when they are on outings or vacation; we don’t have to wake up early, nor go out in the rain or cold for walks; nor do we have to feed her or pay the vet bills. And she doesn’t love us any less because of that. Dogs are amazing creatures and can be trained easily wit...

Today was the big day. The anticipation had been building for three weeks. Ok, that’s not exactly true. Actually, it’s not true at all. Mmmmm....that was delicious! Since the Landkreislauf Ultra in the middle of September I’ve taken some time off. Three weeks to be exact. And I gained 5 pounds. Of course, I didn’t lie around on the couch and each chips and chocolate (ok, I give in, I did that), but there was some mountain biking with my son, a few short jogs and one easy 5k race, but essentially I did no serious training during that time. My coach recommended two weeks off. I extended it to three, not necessarily because my body needed the extra week, but my mind did. Towards the end of the season I had to force myself out the door to go running or biking. During my strength training sessions, I’d find myself taking short breaks to check my messages and flip through my music. My head was just not in it. This is not surprising, since, according to my coach, I’d done...