Benny makes some new friends

I have to be honest, I've been a bit lazy about my running training recently. After the Lakeland 50 in July, though I was back in light training a few days after the event, as the summer progressed the number, frequency and quality of my runs just seemed to peter out. No excuses, no injuries, I just became distracted by other things.
I still had enough miles in the legs to turn up for a jog around the Great North Run (though I had no real speed and finished ten minutes slower than the previous year) and I still had enough fitness to potter around the Manchester 100 mile bike ride without any specific training. I had also started swimming lessons, twice weekly, in the vain hope of mastering front crawl so I could one day enter triathlons.
By the end of September I was doing very little other than cycle to and from work, go swimming and head out for the odd four or five mile run in an evening. Then Benny arrived and the time I would have used for training was no longer my own.
However, the plan had always been that as Benny got better and stronger that I would have to take him out running; otherwise, as a collie-x, he could get frustrated and bored with too much energy, so I knew that things would change and I would be back out training like I used to soon enough. As he has put on weight and looked healthier we keep changing our mind as to what he might be crossed with, (which might effect his endurance ability). He has, at times, looked part Staffordshire bull terrier, or springer or cocker spaniel, or chocolate labrador, or red setter, or flat coat retriever - so your guess is as good as ours as to what his genetics might really be! And until we start running longer distances, I don't know what his endurance capabilities will be - but that is all in the future and today was all about introducing Benny to running in a group.

After a really good night's sleep, Benny and I faffed about this morning getting ourselves suited and booted for a run. OK, so I faffed and he just circled me, adding to the general confusion, while Flash looked on with her guilt-trip eyes, looking pained at being left behind. Because we were going to be out for longer than usual, I needed to load up my trusty running rucksack with water and treats for Benny and it would be the first time I had run with both the harness and the backpack. We headed out, late as usual, to meet up with Sale's Run England group at the Sale Water Park.
I had met with the group a couple of times before over the summer after being introduced to them through a fellow internet poster on the Runners World website forums; I had moaned about some of the abuse I was getting from local youths when I was out training, and she had suggested joining the group for a bit of company/added security. Unfortunately, I can't make many of their training runs (which are usually Sunday mornings when I am racing or they just haven't fitted in with my training needs) but I have really enjoyed chatting to members of the group when I have been able to go. Earlier in the week, I had asked whether anyone minded a dog coming along on one of their runs as the last thing I would want to do would be to make anyone uncomfortable, especially anyone who was a regular runner in the group when I was such a peripheral member. But no one had seemed to have any objections, so here we were.
I wanted Benny to arrive in a calm frame of mind, so ran him for about a mile and half before heading to the meeting place. And even when we did arrive, he was a little bit distracted and keen to keep moving, which presented in the hallmark collie circling of the group while we waited for everyone to turn up. But I needn't have worried, my Little Bear was a little star - running both on and off harness, with the group, ahead and behind, but nearly always with perfect recall and responsive to all instructions. Of course, they were some occasions where he got under people's feet, or we tangled the lunge lead, and I cannot thank the ladies enough for their patience with us when we did get it wrong. But my mind is at rest - we will be able to head up to Ambleside next weekend and attempt the first recce of the course with the other runners. Result!

When we had finished the group run and headed off for our mile trot home, I suddenly felt overwhelmed with pride at our little dog, his ability to adapt to new situations and his seemingly blind faith in me. He has every reason to be unsure and reserved, but he isn't and I think he's pretty awesome for showing such resilience. Whatever I saw in that belly-flopping bundle of bones is coming out more and more, every day he is with us, and it is so much fun to be around. I still have my reservations about next week; the longer distance, the new, challenging terrain and so many more people than there were today. But I think it is time I repaid Benny's trust in me and put my faith in him - we'll give it a go and see what happens. And then we'll post the report here.

(There's more information about Run England groups online: http://www.runengland.org)