Walkies!

Mango has always been a very enthusiastic dog. She loves to be around Mr and Mrs Noah, and is always trying to be ‘helpful’, hoping to join in with all the fun that goes on at The Ark.

So, it was with particular interest that she watched Mrs Noah as she embarked on a training plan to prepare herself for her First Ever Half Marathon Run later in the year!

Mrs Noah’s plan states that she must run set distances four times a week. How did she measure these set distances? She had Mr Noah drive around the village and mark out each kilometre on the edge of the roads. He used silver paint to mark the tar roads and tied green string around fence posts along the dirt roads! Of course, Mango always came along to supervise the measuring, barking her approval from the back of the car.

Then, one day Mrs Noah, in her quest to become uber-fit, ok then, super-fit, dressed in brand new tight lycra running shorts and her bright yellow Bafana Bafana football top, started her training campaign!

Mango always hated these days, as she was always left behind and could do nothing more than bark her encouragement as Mrs Noah left on her merry way and did another few miles. However, after a few months of hard training, Mr Noah had a(nother) brilliant idea!

He called Mrs Noah for a meeting, and they both huddled over cups of tea, whispering quietly so that Mango could not overhear what they were discussing. She just caught the odd word: ‘walkies’, ‘lead’, ‘fun’, and ‘good exercise’.

“I wonder what they are planning,” she thought. “Sounds interesting.”

And the very next day she found out…

“Time for my run,” said Mrs Noah. ”Do you want to come too, Mango?”

“WOW,” thought Mango. “YES! I’m going to the beach! Hooray!” And she leapt around in excitement.

So, on went the lead and halti (on Mango), and on went the tight lycra and bright yellow top (on Mrs Noah) and out they went. Mr Noah watched them both disappear towards the beach road and then went off into his beloved garage ‘to do some proper work’ as he called it!

About an hour later, after working hard, he went up on to the balcony of The Ark with a cup of tea. Whilst he was sipping it and relaxing in the warm sunshine, he spied Mrs Noah walking back along the road with Mango crawling along behind her!

A few minutes later, they staggered up the driveway and into The Ark. Mrs Noah was excited about the run, and was full of cheer, chatting away happily to Mr Noah about the outing: “It was brilliant… we ran up the dirt road for 10 kilometres…Mango loved it…She ran beside me all the way…She was great!

Mr Noah turned to his faithful hound to heap praise upon her…

But where was she?

Curled up on her bed, eyes closed, breathing heavily, and softly growling to anyone who was listening…

“ I’m bushed! thought I was going to the beach…no way…just miles and miles of dirt road, silver paint and green string…

“Never, ever again…

“Well, until next time anyway…”

And she fell asleep!