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And I Call That a Unicorn Run

It was a pretty typical morning. I got a slightly later start than intended, lacing up my shoes closer to 7:45 than 6:45, but the temperature was still in the 70s (although the humidity was at 96 percent and the sun was shining bright), so I wasn’t too concerned about the easy 30-minute run I had planned.

But as I strapped on my watch and headed for the door, my dogs, Rudi and Hollie, started pulling out all the stops. It had been alternately incredibly hot and incredibly stormy over the last few days, so they hadn’t gotten much in the way of outdoor playtime as of late. They had so much energy and looked so hopeful, I just couldn’t leave them behind.

Even if they are notoriously terrible when I take them out together and try to actually get in a good run.

I decided to try a different route, going down the road and into another neighborhood instead of back and forth through our own development, thinking maybe they’d pay more attention to me if they weren’t trying to sniff and pee on all their usual spots.

dog running

Off we went, the hounds pulling me along at a slightly faster pace than was comfortable, but at least we were moving in a straight line and neither dog was flying off the end of her leash, losing her mind at a bird or a squirrel or the neighbor kid’s basketball.

We settled into a slightly slower pace and worked in some walk breaks, and when we hit our first mile just over 10 minutes in, I realized something special was going on. I was feeling great. The dogs were being awesome. It was a beautiful summer morning, and I wasn’t overheating.

It was a unicorn run.

It’s really rare for all the pieces to fall into place, at least for me. Normally, something hurts, or I’m not breathing well, or I run out of time, or the dogs are maniacs … something. But not that morning, and if I learned to be strong from the difficult runs, this one showed me how great the perfect run can be.

Now, let me be clear: Less than 10 minutes later the dogs had pooped out (and, ummm, also pooped a lot, so I was carrying a little extra baggage on the trip home), so I didn’t get the 30 minutes straight I’d intended — I stopped my watch and walked home at their pace and finished up my run on my own after getting them home to the air conditioning and water bowl.

But for some reason, that was more than fine. It was great.

What would your unicorn run look like? —Kristen

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