Change of Direction

Since this is supposed to be an endurance sports-related blog, I'll start with a fitness update. We are registered for the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon on October 29th and are (were? going to be?) determined to get back to a strict training regime and diet. Since we've been saying that for the last 3 months and somehow wound up having hot dogs and brownie sundaes for dinner tonight, you can guess how well that is going. Clearly much harder to crack down than I would have expected...life and having fun have made it difficult to focus.

With that out of the way, the purpose of the post...I have a crummy memory and like jotting down notes so I don't forget stuff later on. Until we finally crack down on training, I'll use this blog to note people and places that have been truly dog friendly (some obvious, some not so much) as we like to take Maggie with us everywhere.

First a little background: Since adding our newest training partner on Jan 20, 2012 (Maggie- a 8-9 month old Redbone Coonhound mix), life has completely changed. Prior to rescuing a dog, I think I glorified pet ownership a bit and completely glossed over the difficulties (I miss sleep). I love her to death but never expected the sheer amount of work it's taken, and will continue to take. She pees, a lot, and wants constant attention..when ignored, it's completely possible you'll lose the insole to your running/biking shoes. The shoes may look fine but good luck when putting them on...that's assuming you can find socks. The worst part, just when you want to kill her, she curls up in a ball next to you and makes you forgot the previous 12 hours. If parenting is anything like this, we may have to reconsider :)

Places that stick out from the last couple months:
- Bed, Bath and Beyond Fairfax Towne Center: only worth noting b/c they let us walk Maggie around the store, she peed in the corner and they haven't banned us from the store :)
- Wylie Wagg Pet Store (Fairfax and Falls Church): Given us good advice and always excited for Maggie to visit
- Flag Ponds Nature Park: One of the few truly dog friendly beaches w/ minimal restrictions (must be leashed) in MD or VA on the Chesapeake Bay. Great layout for Maggie to swim, run and bike...nevermind, scratch that last one
- Red Rocks Firebrick Pizzeria (Alexandria): the whole Old Town area is fairly pet friendly but this place brought out water bowls and treats as soon as we sat down
- Jim McKay Chevrolet: Odd, I know. But while car shopping (no I didn't but a Chevy), they basically forced me to put Maggie in each car to see how she fits and whether she liked the car (which if you know Mags, she hates all cars equally). They also brought her back into the offices for lots of treats...she showed approval by falling asleep under the desk on the salesman's shoes
-Nielsen's Frozen Custard (Vienna): no way it's healthy but they said lots of customers ask for the frozen leftovers from the custard machines to give to their dogs. As first time customers, we said we give it a try and were a bit surprised to receive almost a full pint of frozen custard for Maggie for free- which she wolfed down in 5 minutes.

I'm forgetting a lot of places so plenty of additions to come. Plus, now that Liz has weekends off, we'll be checking out new places each weekend.