Duncan went to the pub today to watch the rugby with 'egg man, dude' and unfortunately dogs weren't allowed in the pub. I therefore used the time between dropping Duncan off at the pub and picking him up to go for a run with Ruby. It was 3pm at this point and we parked up at the end of George's Lane as I fancied a run which didn't involve Ruby getting filthy again so I thought we'd just stick to George's Lane, run along to the Pigeon Tower then turn back and retrace our steps.
The weather was absolutely amazing today and I was running in shorts and t-shirt for the first time in about six months. Even before my run I wasn't cold. Due to the weather, the trails were really busy. I don't think I have ever seen that many people up on George's Lane before, except for on Good Friday. It was absolutely heaving and looked like Strangeways was having a day trip as it seemed to be full of yobs (that makes me sound like an old lady doesn't it?).
Ruby again seemed to be struggling. It may have been down to the heat but I'm not sure as it wasn't particularly warm yesterday when she was also struggling. We did get to a big puddle though which Ruby had a drink from and then went for a paddle in, which came up almost over her back - so much for keeping her clean today! I let her have a paddle for five minutes and then we continued on our way. She was still being really slow. I just jogged along and let her go at her own pace as I don't like to push her. We carried on to the Pigeon Tower and then went down the slippery slope to the right hand side of it, onto the driveway and then climbed back up to George's Lane.
We then ran back towards the car but, just after Wilderswood car park I decided to have a change of scenery and we went down the public footpath which takes you along to the fishing pond and down onto Wallsuches. From there we carried on along to Chorley Old Road and then back to the car.
Just to prove how slow it was, our average pace for this run was 11.47 minute mile! Now to say it was a pretty flat run and that most of the track isn't too rough underfoot, that's pretty slow going.
The thing is, I think Ruby is only pretending to be slow because, whenever we saw another dog up ahead, and at one point sheep up ahead, she started running fast and pulling on me along so she can't have been that tired. Then we we passed them she'd go really slowly again. I wonder if it has anything to do with the new hands free lead which is quite heavy, maybe it's tiring her out pulling on the heavy bungee so much?
I hope she gets back up to speed soon as I don't want her to stop enjoying our runs because they're getting too much for her. Hopefully it's just a couple of bad days. I might give her a rest tomorrow and Tuesday and just walk her and then run on my own. I might also see if there's any difference when she's back on her old lead.
Total distance - 5.3 miles.
Week's total distance - 30.75 miles
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