I have always been one of those crazy people who loves running.
However, I have always struggled with my motivation to start a run. You know, actually put on running clothes and put one foot in front of the other.
Once I start, I love it but waking up early and actually lacing up my shoes has been my struggle. I always seem to have an excuse or can easily find something else to do.
I have always solved that struggle by having a running buddy, someone to keep me accountable.
Because I feel bad when I think I let other people down, I figured if I devised a plan to run with someone, that would provide the motivation I need because I would not want to let a friend down.
In college, I used to wake up at 7 a.m. and meet a friend at a park for runs. With my move to Festus for the job at the Leader, I lost my running buddy, so I stopped running.
When COVID-19 hit, I was going stir-crazy at home for long periods of time, so I resumed running as a way to get out of the house. However, once the stay-at-home orders were lifted, my motivation disappeared.
I have had several running buddies over the years, but it has always been hard to make my schedule work with someone else’s routine. If I am available for a run on a Tuesday morning, my running buddy would be working, or vice versa.
At the end of 2020, I still was struggling with my motivation, and I got an idea to get a reliable running buddy who would always work with my schedule – a dog.
I started researching the best breeds for running dogs and started my hunt. I soon found an adorable miniature Australian shepherd named Big Bertha. She was a cutie but was saddled with a terrible name. When I picked her up in February 2021, she was 8 weeks old. I quickly renamed her Teddy.
The 12-pound ball of fluff was going to be my new running buddy. What I didn’t know at the time was how amazing a running buddy she would be.
At the recommendation of my vet, I waited until Teddy was a year old to start running with her. In the meantime, I got a treadmill, and she would play with toys or chew on a bone next to it while I ran. She was keeping me accountable.
On her first birthday, Dec. 5, 2021, I woke up early, full of energy and Teddy and I ran a half mile. Teddy, now a 45-pound ball of fluff, also loved the run.
While I could run farther, I had to start training her to run longer. We worked together to slowly increase our distance. We started running almost every other day, soon every day and worked our way up to a 5K.
Now, whenever I get near my running shoes, she starts to wiggle with excitement. She knows what it means. She also will start to wiggle and bark with excitement at the mention of “race day.”
I have found that no matter what time, day or night, or what the weather is like, Teddy is ready to run with me. She is always up for another mile and sometimes pulls me along for that extra mile.
She has been helping me break some of my own records. Now, we break our mile record every couple of months.
Most recently, we ran the Macklind Mile, a mile-long race in south St. Louis on June 25.
We ran a mile in 8:18, breaking our previous record of 8:52 set in April during a 5K. While Teddy could probably run a lot faster, I am proud of the new records we set together. We also placed third overall for female runners with their dogs.
We have even started working out together in our garage. While I do squats, she moves from standing to sitting. While I do sit-ups, she puts her front paws on my tummy to make sure I keep my form.
We have “race day” about twice a month, which means we wake up early on a Saturday and run a 5K.
I have found that my canine companion, Teddy, is always ready for a race no matter my schedule. Now, I don’t run unless Teddy is with me. It’s easy for me to find the motivation to run with Teddy because she is always grinning from ear to ear at the end of each race, which makes it all worth it for me.
I still do have human running buddies, but they all take second place to Teddy.
You can follow Teddy’s running adventures with Katelyn Mary on Instagram by following @ms.teddythedog.
