Meet the Crew Part 5...

Weight: 194.8
Delta M: -1



This is my dog Kepler. I never had a dog before, so when I made up my mind to get one I of course wanted the baddest assed dog I could find, but one with a brain and not quite so much of a hair trigger, that meant a German Sheppard. Keeping my desired characteristics in mind, in retrospect it may have not been such a good idea to let the wife pick the pup out of the liter. She of course went for the first one that snuggled up to her. Lucky for me though, The Warden is almost as good at picking out dogs as she is at picking out husbands.

What I basically have is 115 pound version of Odie. He looks all mean and fierce but all he wants from life are some dog treats, somebody to throw his little Kong on a rope combo thingy, and for me to pet him every 38 seconds. When we first got him he kind of took to Chas those first few days and I got fiercely jealous, but who can blame him, she is kind of sweet and cuddly, that’s for sure. After a few days though he soon figured out I was all about finding something fun to do, and as a result, I can’t make a quick stop in the house without causing a Son#1, Kepler, Me pile up type collision.

He used to run like the wind, all day long. His vet, which he had a huge puppy crush on (I can’t blame him, she was kind of cute) couldn’t believe I fed him 8-10 cups of food a day and you could still see his ribs. He would run all the neighbor dogs into the ground, then go hiking with me, or swimming up at the spillway after class, or sometimes, OK a lot of times, during class. In the winter we would harness him up and he would pull Son#1 around on a sled. I had to make him stop when I noticed his paws were bleeding.

He isn’t anywhere near as smart as his namesake, and yes, i really did actually name him after Johnnes Kepler, I really am that much of a physics nerd. This may or may not have something to do with the concussion he received playing soccer. In the house. With me. He looked like he was going break right so I kicked left. The ball made solid contact with his head. He shook it off, but he was a bit wobbly on his feet the rest of the day. A few days later I was kicking the ball in the kitchen and called his name as I was opening the refrigerator door. He hit the door head first, full stride, digging for more, and knocked all the food off the door shelves, and dented the door. The Warden promptly banned indoor soccer shortly thereafter.

He is not quite as spry as he used to be, but then again who is? There is quite a bit of gray in his muzzle, and as it is starting to get cold, his hip dysplasia is starting to slow him down a bit and he walks like I do after I was trying to keep up with Aaron on a 40 miler. He is still up for a lap or two around the yard with Son#1 though, and I bet if I found another Wiggly Giggly ball he’d be up for some soccer.

I told him he was a good puppy tonight, and Son#1 promptly told me he was big enough to call a dog instead of a puppy. He definitely is, but I don’t wanna.

No ride this morning, but I walked at lunch, and did a pretty good time trial Spinerval after work, 7 sets at 90 seconds on 90 seconds off a couple of minutes rest, then a doozey of a 3 minute effort. I nailed it pretty hard and pretty much hit my max heart rate every interval. I am definitely going to be feeling that one tomorrow and Friday. Tomorrow is soccer practice, so I will be running again.