Good Afternoon

Any time it's 63 degrees at 4:15pm, it's hard not to be outside. Absolutely perfect. I took advantage of the ideal weather by going for a nice run.

About a third of the way into my run, I saw a big black dog running up beside me. The dogs around here have been less than hospitable, so I assumed this would be another one I'd have to yell at and scare off. Instead, Sirus (which I later learned was his name) ran all around, jumping up and down like a puppy wanting to play.

I assumed he would stay near his house, but Sirus ended up following me for the next 6 miles! This is the first time I've run with a dog, and it was great. He would run up ahead, sniff around and chase deer and squirrels , and when he got too far he'd stop and wait for me to catch up. At one point his ears perked up as if he heard something, then he plopped down in the ditch. A few seconds later a car came around the corner. When it had passed, he hopped up and kept running. This happened almost every time a car passed, and each time he did, I couldn't help but laugh. The run turned out to be a lot more fun than I'd anticipated. At one point I was running down this beautiful winding road under a canopy of orange, yellow, and red leaves, temperature perfect, dog at my side, and, no lie, horses galloping in the pasture to my left. Unbelievable.

Sirus ended up following me back to CIT, which was fun, but then we had to figure out what to do with him. It took forever to catch him, and when I did, the number listed on his tag was no longer in service. Great. Our only option now was to take him back. We fought to get him in the back of the 4Runner and before we were 2 minutes down the road, he had climbed into the back seat. I rolled the window down so he could hang his head out, but he soon lost interest in that. He moved to the middle to stand with his head between the front seats, then the next thing we knew the only thing in the back were his two back legs. Everything else was in the front with us, mostly on Megan's lap. This 50 lb. dog was sitting on Megan's lab, legs crossed, looking out the window as if this was completely normal.

When we got to the house where he joined me, he jumped out of the car to one of his owners who was outside. The guy was really happy to see him and so thankful we'd brought him back. We were glad to see he lived with nice folks who seemed to take good care of him.

I don't know that I've ever laughed so much while running. It was a blast.