In This Issue - Michigan Runner

3
explain my wet hair. “I had time to go for a
run between meetings,” I said. “And I had to
take a dip in the river.”
“Which river?”
“The Huron.”
“Wasn't it dirty?” (Same response when I
tell people I was swimming in the Detroit
River.)
“No. It was great.”
“It looks dirty.”
“Nah, it's just tannin in the water. The
water's clear.”
The dog, beat from a run and swim, is
happy to get back to a Lab's second-favorite
activity after eating: curled up sleeping in a ball
on the front seat while I go to my meeting.
Days I can't take her, she's waiting for
me at the door when I get home, leash in
mouth, ready for her run. The leash is always
in one of three places in the front room. One
day, she went to the end table by the couch.
No leash. To the coffee table. No leash. To
the other end table. No leash. She looked at
me with a baffled look on her face. The mystery
of the missing leash.
Then I remembered. Occasionally I get
up early enough to take her for a walk before
I leave for work, and once in a while, hoping
against hope, she'll follow me around in the
morning while I get ready, leash in mouth.
That morning, she'd run upstairs and
jumped on the bed, looking at me, smiling
expectantly with the leash in her mouth. I'd
told her sorry, and she'd dropped the leash.
“Maddie, I think you left the leash on the
bed this morning.”
Being a Lab, she knew exactly what I
said. She got this, “Hey, you're right,
great!” look on her face, whipped around,
raced upstairs, jumped on the bed, grabbed
her leash, raced back down and watched
me eagerly while I changed into my shorts
and shoes.
Fall's here now, which means fresh
apples, remnants of abandoned farms dotting
the woods up north and apple trees everywhere.
This year, a late frost nailed some of
them, but others are loaded with fruit. Not as
good as a raspberry, but bite off a chunk at
the tail end of a long run and offer it to the
dog, she'll take it happily and give you a wag
of her tail while she chews it up.
Better yet, you never know when you're
going to come around a turn and there's a
deer or two under an apple tree, having
lunch. And if there's anything a Lab likes better
than taking a swim during a run, it's chasing
deer.
Life doesn't get any sweeter than that.
MR
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Photo by Carter Sherline / Frog Prince Studios
Maddie accompanies Tom Henderson during the New Year’s Eve Family Fun
Run and Walk, Belle Isle, Detroit, December 31, 2005.
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