World of Wonders

Now this, in case you didn't know, is a snood. Don't worry, I myself was ignorant of the existance of the dog snood until just a few days ago. They're basically a scarf, earmuffs and a fashionable dog accessory, all rolled into one ridiculous-looking package. poor doggie.

I saw one for the first time during Sunday's long run. It was cold and rainy, so everyone we ran past was bundled up for their morning walk. One woman decided to take it a bit further and outfit her basset hound for the chill. We came across them as we ran through the woods next to the river. When you run in a big group like I do for my training runs, it's hard to see more than the person in front of you, so obstacles can seem to pop up out of nowhere. To prevent someone running into a pole or slipping on some mud, runners at the front have to call out obstacles. People in the middle pick it up and call it back. It feels like a preschool game, but it's effective enough (although "hOle!" and "pOle!" get mixed up frequently). Once when we running past the zoo, I called out "BuffalOO," but nobody else thought it was funny. Might have had something to do with being 12K into a 14K run.

Anyway, on Sunday as we ran past the woman and her be-snooded dog, the dog decided we were beyond fascinating. He waddled right in front of the pack and sat down to check us out. The front of the pack split to run around him and called out "DoOog!" And soon everyone picked it up, calling out "DoOog!" as we passed, before cracking up at the sight of his bizarre outfit. The basset hound, meanwhile, looked up at us and wagged his tail, happy to be reassured that the world did, in fact, revolve around him.