New Year’s came and went. I made a resolution and did not keep it. Then came the beginning of February.
We got a dog. We were not sure what her schedule would be like but little did we know that she loves early morning activity. By early morning, I mean 30 minutes earlier then I am used to waking up, no big deal. What I was not prepared for was what her activity that she enjoyed.
An early morning run!
I learned this the first time when I took her out first thing then started getting ready for the day. She stared up at me with those big puppy dog eyes waging her tail, whimpering almost as if to tell me, “let’s go run!” This was after I had showered. I took her out again, this time going on a walk.
It started slow, about half-way down the block, she started to run. Pulling me! As soon as I was able to catch up she ran beside me. Before I knew it, we had been running for 15 minutes and had made it back to our house.
Of course she was tired and I was sweaty, hot, and tired forcing me to shower for the second time in an hour. The first week of owning our dog this is the routine, with the exception that I have learned to not shower before going out first thing.
I will admit this, I was not prepared for the physical activity it takes to take care of a dog. I knew there would be walks and throwing balls to have her catch, but I did not realize that there would be running involved. As this week has progressed I realized that this is just the pick me up I needed to kick-start my health. They have done studies saying that dog owners are healthier then non-dog owners, I would believe it after this week.
The entire month of January, I had been thinking, I needed to do something to get back into gear. I might have just found the motivation I needed.
Did you make a resolution this year to become healthy? How is it going? If you have lost motivation what do you think would help you to continue your resolution?
About The Rookie Dad
I found that motivation by watching Weight of the Nation on HBO. Huge wake-up call for me. My yo-yo dieting is going to literally kill me.
I’ve been trying to avoid the yo-yo thing too by simply making small changes here and there. Incorporate them into my life as opposed to making wholesale changes for 2-3 months. The hard part about this, while probably better for the long term, is that it’s easy to get dejected because of minimal short term results.
As far as the dog goes, I gotta give this post a failing grade because you didn’t mention the most polarizing part of owning a dog – poop patrol. It never ends and it’s never fun. A new wrinkle for me? After all the snow we got recently my dog has very little room to roam around the backyard as the snow is now taller than her, so guess where she has decided to do her business? My backyard ice rink. Awesome.
Poop patrol… I already have to pick up my sons shit adding another isn’t really that bad.