How was your #GivingTuesday?

Greetings from Bergheim, Germany! It is mighty cold here. There's snow and ice and it is making running a bit more interesting than I was used to in Namibia. I'm here because much of my family is German and I love coming back to go to Christmas markets and catch up on German beer. The best thing I have seen so far is VERY MANY happy dogs in the streets and out in town. It is great to see them out of the apartments and calmly enjoying towns.

So what did we do for #GivingTuesday? If you don't know what it is, it is the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday and focuses on giving back to the community. I love it and have giving a little extra through Trot with Spot to the organizations we support (Naankuse, SF SPCA and WCC) in addition to Charly's bakery as they do great things for kids in the community through food. Thanks to a very kind soul at the airport who let me go through without charging me at least $160 USD, so I decided to pay it forward through TWS. It feels great!

While I was in Cape Town I got to experience a fantastic running adventure through Run Cape Town. I saw the activity in a running magazine. It is a woman named Philippa, local South African, who loves to run and show people around Cape Town. She has a guiding certificate and has picked out some first class places to take you running which are off the beaten track. We went to a wonderful town called Darling and did a 10k trail run. After that she drove us back to Darling proper and we tasted locally grown olives, wine and beer. It was absolutely great and a wonderful day of activities and getting to know locals. The best was that I got great gifts for home along the way! Highly recommended and a fantastic deal at roughly $35 USD (depending on the exchange rate). Link to the Darling tour here.... Here are the Facebook pics! One last thought on Cape Town - RIP Mandela. We are forever indebted to your leadership and kindness.

We have some wonderful designs going up in the store for the holidays so we hope that you get your gear in time for Christmas! The best thing of course is that the profits go straight to worthwhile charities around the world. 

Darling Brew in South Africa

Time to taste the local beer!

 
 Finished the 10km trail run!

New design - more to come!

Getting ready for Giving Tuesday!

This week Trot with Spot joined with Giving Tuesday to start changing the way people think about the holidays, particular to the Thanksgiving Black Friday/Cyber Monday time. How about adding Giving Tuesday? It's a day to give to charities, large and small, and we're all over it. What a fantastic concept. Check out the full website here: http://givingtuesday.org/

As we're getting ready for Giving Tuesday, we've expanded our inventory and designs! Very exciting news. Loving the inspirations from others and the support we've gotten so far. We may be a small organization, but every little bit counts in the desire to make this world a better place :) http://trotwithspot.spreadshirt.com/

Training this week went well also. Tonight I'll just need to go on a short run and do some strength workouts so that I have earned my grilled cheese. It will be my last grilled cheese Sunday in Namibia so I am looking forward to it. Next week I am hosting a Thanksgiving dinner here to celebrate the giving season. Woot!

One of the more important running tips I reconnected with yesterday was never to doubt your body. If you go into a 5 mile run worrying about whether or not you'll finish it, you'll be miserable the whole time. Just focus on the run itself, the joy of running, and the surrounding/music you have around you. Be positive and trust your legs!

Here are some pictures from my week this week, as well as the new designs.

 

 

Sick as a dog!

Well I kicked off my first week of training for the 10k with a 50% success rate. I made it through 3 runs (4 miles, 3.5 miles, 4 miles) with surprising ease and then got my one and only, worst ever, cold. I had a fever and am still sucking on cough drops and blowing my nose at least 35 times per day. The good news is I'm on the mend and feel confident that I can restart the running this week! Right now I'm hoping to do some yoga tomorrow to stretch out the muscles then either bike or run on Tuesday, depending on how I am feeling. Wednesday will be a fartlek workout, so it will be tough! What on earth is a fartlek? It's a 'speed game' where you change your speeds throughout your run. It helps with a lot of things, but I find it helps me the most with mental toughness.

Alfie, grabbing a drink during our run.

This week I also restarted running with Sabu and Alfie. For Sabu, I felt a happy medium where we can run part of the way on the leash and the other part off, so that worked out well. It just so happened I saw cheetah tracks that day and within a day the cheetah was collared and released for research purposes. Awesome!!

Big ole German Shepherd!

Today I also met the HUGEST German shepherd I have ever seen in my life. Also the sweetest. Very gentle creature, helping to take care of the kids of the household. When I got back from town, I dribbled some water on my fox who looked a little toasty and later that day experienced a very weird 10 minutes: wild baboons very close to the house, one baboon that was tame who came to visit, and then an orphaned animal dropped at the house by the owner of Naankuse. Everything is sorted now, but man it was weird! 

We've got some new designs today, check them out! You get 20% off until November 12th so it's a great deal. The savings don't affect how much Trot with Spot gets, in case that worried you.

It's time for me to go finish watching Indiana Jones and get ready for taking a baboon tonight. I'm moving back to the states for some new adventures in a few weeks and I want to get as much baboon time as possible. (Since my cold is on the mend it shouldn't affect the baboons.)

Tips for runners and dogs: 

• PEANUT BUTTER. Cheap, nutritious and filling.
• Positive reinforcement: Look at what you have accomplished in addition to what you still have to do. Make sure you acknowledge how much you've already done on the way to your goal!
• If you have a cold, sit out a round and let your body recover. :)

Don't let obligations get in the way of the joy of running

I learned a valuable lesson this week: Don't let obligations in life get in the way of the joy of running. What do I mean by that? Running is a way to relax, re-energize, and be healthy. It isn't something to feel pressured by. This week, I had a tough week with the dogs - they both wanted to run 16 different directions at any given time and I came back from 2 runs feeling down, as opposed to my normal post-run cheer. It sucked! So I went for a bike ride to switch things up and took some time to reflect. I realized I was putting too much pressure on these runs to be perfect and wasn't allowing the dogs to be dogs. So this week, I'm going to start small again and be thankful for the ability to run.
In that thought, I looked around for some inspiration for my runs and found 2! Hopefully you'll enjoy these as well:
Run Cape Town - This is an opportunity to combine sight-seeing tours with running, guided by a running guide. I am so excited! The tour I am doing will be a bit more of a social one and will include wine and beer. What a great idea!
The Coyote Hills 10K on January 25th, 2014. It has a canid in the name!! Of course I am going to sign up. It's at a California Regional park that I grew up near, so it feels nice to be a part of it. Can't wait. This will be my first race 10K!

To help with the 10K planning, I looked up some training guides and will start those this week. As I don't want to work against my resolution to relax a bit more this week, I'm going to stick to the week 1 amounts, even if they are lower than what I would normally run.

We had a great week leading up to Halloween! Hope you enjoyed our special Halloween products. We'll be working on Fall/Thanksgiving ideas soon, so look out for those.

Have a great week!

Duathlon was a success and Trot with Spot raised over $300 in the process!

Well I was pleasantly surprised by the event itself, despite being small. It was a lot of fun doing the race with a friend of mine (Augusta, left). She was incredibly positive and we encouraged each other along the way so that's about the best way to do a race! The race itself was designed by top Namibia Triathlete Charmaine Shannon, who started the company T-Rex Triathlon Training Tribe which helps kids get involved in Triathlons for a healthier future. Considering we raised over $300 for Trot with Spot and the race fee went to the children, it was the gift that keeps on giving. Charmaine came to one of the fundraising challenges I put together earlier this year working at Naankuse, so it was nice to come out and support her efforts as well.

In terms of overall speed, I was pretty happy with the runs - 10:45 per mile for the first 2.5 miles and 11:22 per mile for the second 2.5 miles. The bike in between was a bit chaotic... so I'll just say we finished the course we knew! ;)

One fun side effect of running ONLY hills for so many months is that I didn't feel bad on the hills. Woot woot! Normally those are the worst part but I actually pulled ahead of people during the hills so I was thrilled. Short steps all the way!

After the race my race partner and I met up with my sole support at the race (Cila) and went for a lovely brunch at a botanical garden-type thing. Absolutely delicious. Later, it was watching a bit of rugby and taking it easy, my favorite type of day!

So what did we accomplish for our fundraising? Well, we raised over $300! The figures are still coming together, but we've already exceeded the $300 mark so that's great. The money will towards the African Wild Dog project - towards a Wild Dog sponsorship which helps out with food and camp maintenance costs, as well as a nice new tire! Can't drive with only 3 tires, so this is a big help to the research team. Thank you to everyone for your support!

Now we switch back to splitting the proceeds between Naankuse (40%), the Wolf Conservation Center (40%) and the ASPCA no-kill shelter (20%). Buy some gear

or donate your designs to help out! 

1 week until the Duathlon, fundraising for the Wild Dog Project!

Well it's been a hectic last 10 days! With a quick 4 day trip to Etosha National Park of Namibia to see some Elephants, Rhino's and Lions, it was immediately time to get in some last minute training with Sabu and Alfie. Fortunately, it's all gone to plan so far. I also got my gear embroidered here so I'll have some Trot with Spot gear for race day. After humming and hawing back and forth, I'm going for the 5km run - 12 km bike - 5km run. It will be challenging to complete the second 5km, but I'm sure it will be great fun! So far Trot with Spot has raised $74 of the $200 goal, so here's to hoping a few more orders come in to help reach the goal. While it doesn't seem like too much, $200 can buy a new tire for the research team and that is huge. They go through a lot of tough terrain and the tires take a beating out in Namibia. Having a spare tire can mean the difference between success and failure.

We've also expanded our clothing line for this month, and continue to add new ideas. If you'd like to be a part of it, please do! We'd love to showcase your work. Store link: http://trotwithspot.spreadshirt.com/

Tips from this week:

PEANUT BUTTER. It is satiating, nutritious and cheap. Don't go overboard because it is high in calories, but it is a fantastic recovery food and great for keeping hunger at bay.

ICE. If you're feeling a twinge here or there, ice can often help. Ideally you cool the area for 20 min on, 20 min off and make sure to stretch. It can really help you stay out of the red zone of injuries.

SMILE. Don't be too hard on yourself if your run or walk didn't go as planned! You're enjoying some endorphins and helping your health. It's a little counter-productive to be worried about your run, because too much worrying isn't good for you either!

Pictures from Etosha:

Ride with Spot, it's crosstraining!

So I've decided to take part in a duathlon (Run, Bike, Run) in Windhoek on October 19th to fundraise $200 for Trot with Spot, particularly for the African Wild Dog Project at Naankuse. I love mountain biking and I love running, so I am pretty stoked.

Since most of my runs have been dedicated to running with Sabu (large black mut du love), I thought I would change it up with my other favorite dog here - Alfie. His full name is Sir Alfred Biscuit and he is actually Noodles' brother. In other words, a total Jack Russel, full of energy. I strapped on his harness and attached the leash to my bike.

TIP: Make sure that you attach it to the frame, NOT the handles. Not only does this let the dog have a better range of running, but it helps you with your stability. If he's attached to your handle, one little move could send both of you flying.

TIP: Use the app "MapMyRide" to help you log your distances and time. I use the Nike+ app for my runs, and this is the equivalent for running. It shows you elevation and everything. Love it!

For this bike I just focused on having a good time and making sure Alfie was feeling alright. He's obviously going a lot faster and further, so it was important to take Hartebeest is? It's a type of antelope out here and there's a video of one taking out a moutain biker. The guy was ok but it was a hard hit! I did see these guys on my bike but fortunately it was sans any type of collisions.....
a few breaks. Fortunately, we both had a fantastic time and got to see a few animals. Do you know what a