"There is nothing truer in this world than the love of a good dog." - Mira Grant

The moment she woke up from her nap, walked over to me, licked my hand and then fell back asleep, I knew I was hooked.  She was my first and best adult decision, and now, having been the recipient of Fallon's unconditional love, the only thing I'm certain of is that nothing compares to the devotion of a good dog.  From five weeks old, until the day my heart broke into a galaxy of tiny pieces 14 years later, she ruled my every moment. Afterwards, it became an attempt to distract myself from the sudden emptiness, and figure out who I was in this new role in my life.

When I first considered the notion of running a marathon, I only thought of what it would take to prepare myself mentally and physically.  I cringed at the idea of the blisters, the spasms, and oh crikey, is it true your nipples bleed?!  I honestly wasn't sure if I was up for this. While I stewed on the possibility, I started to look at the charities working with the 2017 Chicago marathon.  I knew that if I ran, I'd run for a shelter.  There was never a doubt.  That's when I discovered Marley's Mutts.

I can't tell you how I felt reading about Marley, Baloo, and Hooch. Beautiful animals who in some cases had endured unspeakable cruelty, and were finally free to be loving companions. Marley's Mutts, I soon found, believed the same thing I did:  There is nothing truer in this world than the love of a good dog.  I read about their utilisation of therapy canines with Miracle Mutts, to their work rescuing death row dogs from high kill shelters and enrolling them in the rehabilitation program Pawsitive Change.  I realised we also shared another belief: there is no such thing as  bad dog. 

Then I thought of Fallon.  A beautiful girl who was loved so much, and had the best life we could give her.  I am so grateful she never had to know anything worse than watching us go on holiday without her, or the injustice of having to stop chewing on her toy hedgehog for a bit while I clumsily tried to sew his leg back on. Every dog deserves that to be the worst thing that happens to them.  They all deserve the best life we can give them.

I decided to run.  I decided to run for Marley's. I decided to run for Fallon. Because bloody nipples bedamned.