My Dog Made Me Do An Ultramarathon

dog ultramarathon new zealand

Written by Katrin Webb.

Yes it is true, I blame my dog, Jett that I ended up with an Ultramarathon addiction. 

 Not that I really need an excuse for being obsessive compulsive, hyperactive, overachiever, type A athlete. I've always been a bit like this. From being a gym bunny at University, that would run around in skimpy aerobics clothes and do up to three back to back high intensity classes that would put Olivia Newton-John in her corner to then hanging out with the wrong crowd (damn those sport students) and whoops, there was my first marathon. It didn't take long and I was into triathlon. Back then, in Germany, you had to go by ‘zee’ rules and slowly work your way up in distance, but as soon as I moved to NZ, I got the hang of 'she'll be right mate' and suddenly I was in the waters of Lake Taupo and swam in my first ever Ironman. 5 of these later and then one day we came home from a trip to the Kawerau SPCA with this black beauty called Jett (and a few years later another called Tess). 

running trail dogs

And that changed things. 

When previously I wouldn't think twice to be out for up to 8hrs of training I now felt bad when I even considered touching my bike and head out for a couple of hours. 

Because I wouldn't be with Jet. I was riddled with guilt leaving her at home alone. It didn't take me long to bond with our new dog but it also didn't take me long to learn how much happiness and fun she would add to our daily runs and walks (and life in general). You can't help but feel good and happy when you see your dog bouncing around the forest and lake front and smile the biggest smile from ear to ear!!! So soon any run turned into 'us' time that both of us cherished… And the bikes in the garage gathered dust!

 Since I'm still a type A personality type athlete, I still wanted to do some form of event and exercise that wasn't completely 'normal'. So what better to do than go and enter a 100km Ultramarathon - kills two birds with one stone…I get my fix and even better, Jett and I got to hang out for real long on all of the training runs and explore the Whakarewarewa trails for hours on end together. 

So yes, in a way I do blame Jett for being the reason for my Ultramarathon addiction, but hey guess what - I'm real thankful she is :-)

The Ultramarathon is also the reason why we are now fans of FurtherFaster. I have used the Ultra in the past two years as a fundraiser for the SPCA and the awesome team of Julz and Rocky have come on board to support me - and made Jett one of their brand ambassadors. Through this we got a whole new appreciation how the gear can help you with your running missions with your furry friends and we are looking forward to sharing some of these with you in the future!

 

dog kisses 

Written by Katrin Webb, pup mum of FurtherFaster Ambassador Jet the Dog!

You can check out our range of running gear for humans and dogs online or in your local shop in Christchurch.

 


1 comment


  • Kate Gazzard

    Well done Kat and Jet! I can completely empathise with this story as I did the same! Ditched Ironman to hang out with my buddy on the trails. Far more fun! Great work fundraising for SPCA!
    Keep up the awesome work. x


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