dogs don't look both ways

Dad and Joey were running partners ever since Joey was a puppy, since he was 4 months old!

running partners and good buds

Then, when Joey was 4 months old, a veterinarian recommended waiting until he was one year old to start him running. Joey, however, was not happy when he didn't get to run. You could tell. He would come up to Dad in the morning like he wanted to run, and Dad had to say "I'm sorry, not today, Joey." Joey would be mopey all day when Dad went out running without him.

So then Dad decided not to wait the full year. A few months later, when Joey was now 7 months old, Dad started allowing Joey to run with him again. And these were not flat roads! These were up and down the hills outside of Boston, up terrain that was the result of glacial outcropping from which you could see all of Boston, up roads that even had a water tower at their top, and back down again.

Joey's morning routine was as follows: Every morning, Dad would wake up at 4 a.m. Joey would remain in his bed until around 5 a.m., when Dad would come and whisper, "Joey, come! Wake up! Let's go!" and in an instant Joey would getup, do his customary downward dog and upward dog stretches (and in that order), and start wagging his tail. Dad's and Joey's usual weekday run was for 20 minutes, though Sundays were the day for the "long run", usually one hour. During these long runs, they would run to Boston College, up and down Heartbreak Hill, the hilliest part of the Boston Marathon, and back home. They ran six days per week, through all the seasons.

And this is how it continued, for 9 more years!

Then there was the early Spring morning when Dad was out of town on business so the two couldn't go running together.

Please continue with "The Wrong Side of the Fence".