A great "waste" of time

Today I got up and decided that I'd had enough running the local roads. Unfortunately, no one plows any of our local trails. I debated whether is was worth the trip to Syracuse to run the Onondaga Lake Trail. In some ways it felt like it would be a stupid waste of time to drive over an hour there and back to only run a handful of mile, but I just needed a change of scenery.

So we packed up a lunch and headed out.  The dogs were happy to be in the car not caring where we were going, just that we were all on a trip.

I needed my sunglasses on for the first time in way too long.

We arrived at the trail and found it PACKED with walkers, runners, a few brave bicyclists, and many dogs happy to be out in the warm sun.  . 

I ran with Booker while Marc walked Sisko.

It was, to be honest, a rough start.  Booker was way over-stimulated from all the people and the dogs.  Right off the bat we had a Goldendoodle lunge at us as we tried to run by - which Booker thought meant he wanted to be friends and he was determined to meet him.  I managed to wrangle him in.

Then, I reached down for the treat bag I had packed for him and it was missing.  Just as I was debating whether to turn around and go back to look for it, Marc texted me and said that he had seen it and would grab it for me.  But that meant no treats for his good behavior as we ran.

Booker continued to be distracted and unfocused for a while, at times trying to turn around and see people we had passed.  I encouraged him to get back on task.

About 2 miles in, the crown thinned considerably.  That definitely helped him get into the groove and I saw that he was looking around and smelling the unfamiliar route.

A super-fast guy in shorts blew by us and for a minute, Booker decided he wanted to run that guys pace.  But being attached to me, he eventually gave up and resumed my pace.

We turned around at the trail end - 3.5 miles in - and headed back.

The trip back was much smoother.  It was now just around lunch time and there were even more people on the trail enjoying the sun and upper 30's.  But Booker was now in the groove and was not distracted - he happily trotted past all dogs, giving them no more than a glance.

We finished with 7 miles.  

  

Then we headed to the car.  Sisko was happy to see us and Marc said that he had had no CCL issues on their walk and enjoyed seeing people and dogs alike.

I got out their food and they happily sucked it down.

They both slept soundly on the way home.

So yes, spending over 2 hours in the car on a Sunday - not my favorite, but in this case, totally worth it.