Logan Braman

I took Luna with me for my run today. After my run yesterday I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to go at all today. Thankfully my leg felt better than it has since the injury and I was able to get a couple miles in.

Luna is getting better at running. The first couple runs we did were full of stops and starts for her to sniff around and whatnot.  She still stopped a few times today, but the frequency has decreased quite a bit. One of our stops today was for a poop break, so I can’t hold that one against her. I think she’s going to be a great little runner after it becomes more of a routine.

I’m still not quite up to my regular mileage but that’s OK. I’ll start to add the distance as my leg feels like it’s up to the task. I’m supposed to go for 5 miles tomorrow so we’ll see how it goes.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 2.11 miles at 14:43 pace
- Week total: 4.19 miles
- January total: 7.95 miles
- 2012 total: 7.95 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,492.05 miles

I wanted to go for a longer run today but my leg didn’t agree. Instead I went on a short warm up jog with Luna then a slightly longer run on my own. My leg isn’t 100 percent, but it definitely feels better every day. It’s a small encouragement but I’ll take what I can get.

Tomorrow is an off day then I have 5 miles planned for Tuesday. I’m going to try for the entire distance if my leg feels up to it. It sucks being injured, but it would suck more to be out long-term.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 2.36 miles at 12:45 pace
- Week total: 3.76 miles
- January total: 3.76 miles
- 2012 total: 3.76 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,496.24

It’s the 7th and today marks my first run in 2012. I only went for 1.4 miles and it took a while. I didn’t plan for the year to start out so slow, but my peroneus longus on my left leg is still acting up. I also took our new dog Luna along on the run and let her set the distance and pace. She didn’t want to go very far or very fast, which was fine by me.

I should be back to 100 percent sometime this week. I’ll probably go for a longer run tomorrow by myself. I might take Luna too, but I don’t want to overdo it with her. She seemed happy enough running today, but she needed quite a few walking breaks. I want to make sure her fitness/cardio is built up slowly before we go any real distance. I also want to give her paw pads a chance to toughen up before we go on longer runs.

It felt good to be out again, even though it was a short run. I’m looking forward to going longer tomorrow.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 1.4 miles at 15:29 pace
- Week total: 1.4 miles
- January total: 1.4 miles
- 2012 total: 1.4 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,498.6 miles

I went for a 2-mile run with Cassandra this morning. It was a nice easy run until we got to the 1.5-mile mark. That’s when a little dog came bursting out of a house on the route and chased after us for a minute or so. I wasn’t concerned about the dog hurting us, but I really didn’t want it to get run over by a car or something else unfortunate. Thankfully, he decided to stop and head back home after a short chase.

Which brings me to today’s public service announcement: Make sure your dogs aren’t going to chase after stuff if it runs by! In less than a week I’ve had two dogs come bounding after me because of negligent owners. I love dogs and I want to see them live long and happy lives. All it takes is a bit of training or a leash to make sure that nothing bad happens when someone like me runs by early in the morning.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 2 miles at 11:55 pace
- Week total: 4.5 miles
- September total: 14.5 miles
- 2011 total: 14.5 miles

It’s still hot in Texas. That’s not the reason for this post, title withstanding. No, this is all about dogs.

It seems I’ve been seeing more canines than usual in Austin. I know it really just seems that way, however. In reality, I’m just missing the joy that comes with having a dog around the house.

I grew up with dogs. First, we had Maggie the black labrador retriever. Then, we had Bailee the chocolate labrador retriever. We had to put her to sleep this year (it sucked, if you want to know what it was like you can read this) but not before Palmer the Super Puppy came into our family. He’s awesome, and I wish he could be with me here in Texas. That wouldn’t be very nice to my Mom and Pops back home though.

So here I am, without a dog and wanting one. Obsession is probably a more accurate description than anything else. Take tonight, when I spent 45 minutes looking at various breeds and trying to find a place to buy them in Texas. This wouldn’t be a problem if getting a dog was even a somewhat reasonable dream.

To have a dog, I would need money and time I simply don’t have. I’ve thought about ways to make the time and it’s probably doable. There’s no way I could afford to buy a dog, pay for all the initial costs, pay a pet deposit and still have enough over to make sure we both have food to eat. So I dream. And I try not to get too excited when I see a particularly awesome dog running around town.

Someday.

I’ve been in Austin for a week now.

It’s still awesome.

Last night I went to the Congress Bridge for Night of the Bat. It was created because Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony on earth. The night included honorary guest Adam West, a 1960s Batmobile and a group called Blue Lapis Light that danced on the side of a huge building.

It was awesome beyond words. If you’ve seen the photos on Facebook, you’ll be seeing them here again. It was just that cool.

I want one.

(more…)

I visited a pet cemetery yesterday. Harrolds Pet Cemetery, to be exact. The trip came about when Cassandra asked me if I wanted to accompany her to find the place and take some photos. I said yes without much thought, and I’m glad it turned out that way. I was on the fence about it yesterday because of some emotions it dredged up to the surface.

Without the sign, I would have assumed the graves were for people because of the elaborate tombstones.

If you’ve read my blog before, you might know that I recently lost my beautiful and amazing dog Bailee. We put her to sleep so she wouldn’t have to suffer any more. I miss her, and the trip to the cemetery brought the emotions right up to the surface. It was nice in a way though, because the cemetery is obviously a way to lovingly remember pets. Bailee was cremated, and I can go visit her ashes. I wasn’t sure about it before, but now I think it might be a good idea.

Anyway, it was nice to see that Muncie has such a nice place available for people to remember their pets who have died. The love for our pets is a beautiful thing. (more…)

I don’t cry often.

For a long time it was impossible. The numbing properties of the chemicals I threw into my body put a stranglehold on my tear ducts. Now the chemicals are gone and I’m still not the most emotive person you’ll meet. Thoughts of my prior actions are the catalyst for tears much of the time, but even those have lost their power as I’ve slowly pried the fingers of the past from around my neck.

Bailee did a lot of relaxing toward the end. This photo is from a few weeks before she died.

I cried yesterday. And the day before. And the one before that.

Most of the droplets were from a sense of loss. The rest were from an unlikely combination of joyous reminiscing in one moment and raging loss in the next. Many slip down my face and onto my lap while I type this post.

Bailee, my family’s wonderful chocolate labrador retriever, died today. My parents took her to the vet to be put to sleep. My mom confessed guilt at their decision, but there was nothing to atone for. It was time. (more…)