3 cups of black coffee and a slap in the face

My little daughter has had a chesty cough for the last five or six days. Luckily there has not come any fever or other problems, so she has been happily attending kindergarten with a good chorus of her coughing friends.

Whilst this might seem irrelevant to the title of today’s Dog Blog, it actually has everything to do with it. You see I currently share a mattress on the floor with my daughter when she doesn’t want to sleep in her own bed, right next to us.

Fortunately the coughing every 10 to 15 minutes throughout the night seems not to wake her up. I will admit that it regularly wakes up her father however, and when she is restless I get a good kicking as well. No complaints, this is just part and parcel of having small kids.

As I accumulate more and more nights of irregular and bad sleep I recognize that the early mornings are tougher and tougher.

This morning I banged in my three black coffees and it barely made a difference.

It was time for the self talk and a metaphorical slap in the face.

Having competed in a good deal of Endurance races I know that the mental battle dictates how tired you actually feel.

First question to myself: are you actually tired or do you just need to get going?

Second question to myself: is there anything you would rather be doing right now?

After very much establishing that what I most needed and wanted was to get out into the woods, get some fresh air and have a good adventure with some dogs, my energy immediately returned.

17,000 steps later and apart from a few yawns, I have had a pretty fantastic and energetic day of dog adventures.

By the time that I was joined by Annabelle on my first walk she found me bouncing up and down a slope, whilst chasing dogs and throwing sticks.

I am by no means implying that sleep is not important, however humans have vast amounts of energy reserves which almost never get tapped into.

Doggies: Dina, Mimzy, Jello, Nansen, Hedda and Shaq