Several weekends ago while Josh was at work I took Titus to Red Bud Park in Abilene. Josh and I used to go to this park back when we were dating, and I wanted to see if things had changed much. They have this great prairie dog area that is surrounded by a short wall and benches so you can sit and watch their activities. Titus loves prairie dogs (and anything that moves) so I thought we should see if they were still there.
When I got to the park, it was much bigger than I remembered. I couldn't see the prairie dog area at first, so I just parked the car and Titus and I played ball for a while. I'm not sure if my memory is really bad or if this is really new, but the park now has a nice paved walking trail around it that I don't remember being there before. Titus and I walked around the path until we found the prairie dogs. He thought they were fun for a while and then got bored, so we continued our walk. We were running short on time so we took the shortcut back to the car.
I've been trying to come up with more exercise options for me and Titus to do until it gets warm enough to swim at the local lakes. It's hard for me to walk fast enough to really wear Titus out (and I get bored walking). He loves when we go for bike rides and he gets to run alongside us, but it's hard for me to lift and reach high enough to load my bike on our car to take to town. In WA we would go for bike rides everyday because we lived in this quiet little dirt road town that had lots of country roads to enjoy. Now we live off of a 70 mph highway with no shoulder on the side. If we hustle, we can safely make it to a county road, but it is still pretty busy unless we ride on Saturday mornings. We still play ball or frisbee everyday at home, but we need something more interesting for the weekends.
Ok- back to the park and the new walking trail. An idea hit me- maybe I should try rollerblading with Titus. When I was growing up, rollerskating was the big thing. The best birthday parties were the ones at the skating rink, and I would often get my parents to back the cars out of the garage so I could skate at home. In high school, rollerblades became the big thing. My parents bought me a pair, but I soon became busy with work and rarely used them. I took them to college with me and only used them a couple of times. Since then, they have been in the back of the closet. Well, I whipped them out a few weeks ago and began to practice at home. We have a nice little circle to skate on consisting of our driveway, front porch, and a sidewalk that connects the two. Titus didn't know what to think so he just chased me around in circles trying to get in my way. I didn't do too bad considering I haven't skated in about 10 years. I didn't fall or run over Titus! I certainly wasn't graceful or fast though either. After practicing again last Saturday morning, I decided I could probably go public.
Titus and I took Josh to work and then headed off to the park. I think it went pretty well! Titus and I both got a lot of exercise. I found muscles that haven't been used in ages and didn't fall once! I even broke a sweat which is rare for me! I decided that I'm glad TX is so flat because I didn't have to work too hard going up hills and I also didn't get going too fast going down hills. You see, I'm not used to using the brakes yet. I grew up braking with toe brakes not heel brakes. I always feel like I'm going to fall backward if I try to stop on rollerblades. I usually just run off into the grass to stop if I need to. Well, TX is so flat that I can stop if I just stop moving my legs. Unless of course I'm holding Titus on the leash. I discovered that Titus would probably make a great sled dog. Anytime I got tired or slowed down to pass people, Titus would just pull me along and keep going. It was great and people got a good laugh at us!
So even though video games are the new "cool" way to exercise, I'm going to go back to the 90s for a while and keep skating. Maybe I'll be brave enough to skate around ACU's walking trail soon, but for now we'll stick to the south side of town where nobody knows us!
4 comments:
You are so funny! I'm amazed you kept your roller blades. I think my parents got rid of mine when I moved out of the house. I'm impressed that you are brave enough to roll along with Titus. :)
Wow, just thinking about that makes me almost fall over! I've roller bladed as recently as living in Moscow, and I have the scars to prove it!! It's fun, but I wouldn't be able to do it while holding onto a dog.
I love rollerblading, but I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to do it with a dog. I remember too well what happened in high school when I was jogging with my dog on a leash and he spotted a rabbit. (-:
Unfortunately, these days I have to sneak out when I go jogging because I know Amos will tire out before I do.
It's funny how everyone is concerned about me skating with Titus. I've been riding my bike with him attached to it for at least 4 years and we've only fallen twice (once was my fault for riding on ice and the other time was Titus' fault for not obeying). It would be much easier for me to drop a leash while skating than to unhook it from the bicycle. The key is to watch what he's looking at and use a retractable leash so he has 16 feet of cushion space in any direction. It's not hard! Plus, Titus is such a good boy I could really go without a leash if I really wanted to. We don't use the leash much with the bicycle anymore- we usually have it with us, but we rarely use it.
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