How my puppy jumpstarted my training

So, there haven’t been many blog updates because, in short, I’ve been a slacker. I’ve mostly used the weather as my excuse. I have gotten in a few runs and began taking Pilates, but it’s hard to convince your body it’s a good idea to run when it’s 7 degrees... or freezing rain is falling... or when no one within a 3 mile radius has shoveled their sidewalks, leaving you to dodge salt trucks in the road.

Anyway, this has caused me to begin worrying more and more about my performance in the upcoming Pittsburgh marathon. I needed to get back on track, despite the gloomy Pittsburgh winter.

The solution came in a pretty little spunky package - the sweetest little puppy in the entire world named Daisy. Surprisingly, she would be the key to kicking my butt back into full training gear.

How my Daisy has begun training me:

No matter how cold it is at 6 a.m., it’s always warmer than it was at 2 a.m. when I took the dog outside in just my robe and slippers.

A puppy means that I can no longer hit the snooze 10 times before actually waking up. After getting out of bed, feeding and walking the dog, why bother going back to bed? It’s easier to just start my day.

In order to feed her breakfast, I wake up early enough to eat breakfast myself.

Running in the morning means that I have the huge reward of snuggling with my puppy after work. She greets me as if to say, “You did good today!” and I get to enjoy her puppy kisses all evening.