The journey begins...

It's hard to believe that a skinny, 17 lb puppy could become a training partner & constant motivator for a competitive runner, but Uta has. For several years I wanted a dog. I spent countless hours researching breeds that love to run, and settled on the brittany. Though small in build, (brittanys grow to be 30-40 lbs), these hunting dogs are very high energy and one of the more intelligent breeds. Combined with their desire to please, the breed is a perfect fit for my personality and lifestyle. These dogs love to run, and are known to run for several hours at a time. In fact, the very first thing my vet said when my husband & I brought her in was, "I hope you guys like to run. This dog needs to run."

Uta came to the right place. My husband, Nate, is a former professional marathon runner turned middle school math teacher. I ran division I in college. Now that I've started my career, I've really struggled to balance my training and work schedules. In recent years, my athletic motivation was lacking but my desire to compete well was always there. Running with my husband helped, but he continues to compete himself, and therefore cannot always train with me since we run different paces. Week after week, month after month, it's difficult to drag yourself out of bed each morning to run in the dark alone, especially when you don't see the results in races that you want and expect.

So began my plan to combine my love of dogs with a breed that loves to run and could be my training partner. We decided to name the dog after one of our running heroes; "Deek" after Rob De Castella if the pup was a boy, and "Uta" after Uta Pippig, the three time Boston Marathon champ, if the pup was a girl.

When we met the 5 month old brittany puppies that were available for adoption, most of them were running around like crazy and avoided interaction with us. One puppy, though quite lively, calmly came up to me, put her little paw on my thigh, and lingered there. She looked into my eyes. I instantly knew this was my puppy. A skinny girl, this was our little Uta.

She immediately took after her namesake, but not in the way I expected. On the ride home, Uta started having diarrhea. This continued all night her first night with us. The next morning our vet tested a stool sample. It took several days to receive the results, and we spent those days cleaning up poop. Uta spent four hours each day in her crate; from 8AM to 12PM until I came home during lunch when she would be covered in diarrhea and need a bath. Then again at 3:30PM, when my husband came home from school and would need to give her another bath. When we were home she struggled to make it to the door to go out, and had frequent accidents. Finally the test results showed she had Giardia. A course of antibiotics and she was fine, but the humor of naming her Uta was not lost on us! (Uta Pippig famously won the 1996 Boston Marathon after struggling for miles with diarrhea and menstrual issues)

After the first couple of weeks, her running talent began to blossom. On walks she would leap and gallop, she would go to the back of her leash then sprint to the front. If someone ran past us, she would start to cry and try to follow them. Our vet gave us the green light to start running her, so we began adding running intervals to her walks. She loved this; her little tail like a lightning rod in the air. Before long, she easily ran a two mile loop around our neighborhood and would still want to play when she got home!

Now, about six weeks later, Uta runs either two sessions (one early morning, one evening) of 2.5 miles, or one session of 3.5-4 miles. Though it's obvious she wants to run more, we are cautious to increase her mileage slowly to avoid injury. Depending on the distance I have planned for the day, I usually start my run with Uta, drop her off at home, then continue on for the rest of my run. I look forward to the day in the not so distant future that Uta will be not only running the full distance with me, but will be pushing me to run further than I have before.

Though she is a dedicated running partner, she has quickly become my heart and soul. The love I have for this little pup is so much more than I ever imagined. When we're not running she's usually snuggling close to me, with part of her body always in contact with mine. If I get up and go into a different room, she follows me. She sleeps with us at night, and licks our faces in the morning. She has become part and parcel of our lives, and I already can't picture my life without her.