How to take out a mailbox in 2 seconds flat, using only a Goldendoodle ---by Amanda Cassell

The Innocent Party
The Guilty Party (aka Mailbox Murderer) ---Wanted Dead or Alive



Oh the adventures Ollie dog, Matt, and I have shared.............and to think--we are actually getting yet ANOTHER doodle, you ask yourself??!!! We have truly lost our mind ;) Well, crazy loves company,or so they say........we will have one house full of CRAZY come mid-December in the Cassell household----with an added bonus of a chocolate doodle puppy ;) I just feel so sad for Ollie dog when I come home at lunch and he is looking all lonely and pitiful:( He needs a friend!!! Especially since he is a spoiled little booger already. If we get him a friend to stay entertained with, once we have children, he shouldn't feel so neglected and both of the dogs will have a chance to mellow out a little more by the time the kids arrive. Ollie has actually become quite mellow in the last couple months. We have a hard time getting him up in the morning, and when I come home, he is sprawled out on the couch sleeping...he fell asleep with his body across the couch and his head on my shoulder at 6 pm the other night....out snoring in 5 seconds once his head hit my shoulder! ha ;)

Ok, on to the adventure from yesterday evening---Matt had to go to journal club at the hospital, so I decided I would take Ollie for a little run. I was only going to take him for a couple miles---you should see how excited he gets when I grab the leash~ He was doing great, running with me--he holds about an 8:30 mile--We were on our last mile home and before I know it, he has wrapped the retractable leash around a mailbox, pulled it out of the ground, and is dragging the mailbox in his leash, all in a matter of seconds!!!!!! OMG---I looked around to see if we were causing a scene, unwrapped the leash, and Ollie is just sitting there, looking at me like, "What did I dooooo??" I yelled at him to stay, observed the mailbox for a second, and realized the wood holding it into the ground was rotted and it appeared that someone had placed it back in the hole in the ground temporarily (Whew, maybe Ollie DIDN'T do the damage!) No one was home, so all I could do was pick the leash back up and run the rest of the way home with him and my red-faced self. Ollie never even batted an eyelash at the poor mailbox. How do I always get myself into these situations??!! I have to go back and let someone know what happened today though----hopefully they will tell me it was already broken, like I assume.

This week has been very tiresome for me, training wise. I think I am hitting the burn-out phase of multiple marathoning. A great deal of my marathon training is that I have a great mental toughness when I set a goal for something. NY Marathon was a big goal for me, and when I was pleased with my time, Memphis was sort of on the back burner. I still want to do very well with Memphis marathon, but my mental attitude since NY is not there right now. It's a struggle to be able to get up in the early mornings, now that it's cold, and even though I do make myself get up, the run's are tiresome and I am just trying to push throught them. This morning, for instance, the alarm went off at 4:15 am. Matt always gets out of bed first. Ollie dog always jumps in the bed when Matt gets out (he is taking advantage of "alpha dog" haha!)

I lay around for ohhhhh.........20 more minutes ;)

THE SCENARIO

Matt(4:15am) -- "Morning Babe, get up"

Amanda--"nnooooooooooo.........I'm so tiiiiiiirrreedddd Mattt"

Matt-(4:25am) (after eating a snack) Amanda, you gotta get out of the bed"

Amanda-- "Matt, I'm sooooooo tired......I just wanna sleepppppppp.....I'm so tired I feel nauseousssssss:( Just a few more minutesssssssssss.........(in my pleading voice)

Matt-(4:30am) (Ollie is now laying on one side of the bed,on his back-with legs sprawled in the air,snoring--I'm on the other side, on my back, pretending to be asleep, hoping Matt will leave the room for another 5 minutes ;)
"You two are something else---what am I going to do with you?? Lazy, lazy, lazy"

Amanda- I promise I am getting up RIGHT now...........(did that sound persuasive, I wonder to myself? Maybe he will leave the room for just 5 more minutes ;)

Matt- (4:35am) (after checking his email) "All right babe, come on".......(picking me up, placing each foot on the ground one at a time, and this morning carrying me into the bathroom ---(while Ollie is trying to jump up in his arms at the same time b/c he is jealous)........All right, now you're up........get READY babe!!!! ;)

It's actually pretty entertaining to watch, I would imagine ;) Can we say SLEEP DEPRIVED???!!!!! hahaha!! Once I'm up and the run is over, I am a new woman..........(the steps to get me to that point, however, are a little much!)


Do not fret, however; This is not an everyday occurance (Well, it's only an occurance when Matt has to be done with running 12 miles before it's even LIGHT outside!!!!!! I'm not a complete lazy bum, I promise ;) I am just a big fan of sleep and comfort, none of which you can accomplish when running 12 milers before the sun comes up ;p)

I hope I am just suffering from a little post-marathon fatigue and not overtraining syndrome. My pace hasn't slowed very much---everything just seems to take more effort and with my mental toughness of having a goal to attain, it's harder than ever. Hope I get it back before Memphis or it ain't gonna be pretty ;(
Hopefully the taper after next week will do me some good. I need to start getting better sleep at night and tryihng not to be so stressed over things like the big month of patients at work (can't complain about more business), Christmas gifts, friends and family I am praying for in which I have no control over, etc.

I am going to take it all in stride and do what I so often tell others........"One day at a time, One day at a time"...........or at least until Ollie murders another neighborhood mailbox ;)