If I don't, mine and Arthur's schedule of an espresso, bathroom duties, shower and getting a full hours walk in gets all a little bit stressful as it means I'm trying to get Arthur back to the house within a whisper of Fabio (his school teacher) pulling up at our gate.
So today I put my new plan into action, awake, up, espresso made, toilet duties, shower, cold espresso drunk (unintended for it to be cold), dressed (with Arthur going bat-shit crazy) as he knew he was off on an adventure with me and out the door by 6.50 a.m.
So good, so far.
The common (Clapham) is just at the end of our road so taking Arthur out couldn't be easier, however this morning work has begun on ripping up the pavement that runs alongside the common, this for some reason has also meant the traffic lights at a three-way junction have been switched off resulting in traffic pandemonium and Arthur and I struggling to figure out how to cross less than 5 metres of tarmac (road) to get to the green and lush common to play and to frolic...
Urban hazard manoeuvred and we're off on our walk proper. In the main Arthur goes off lead when we get onto the common and gets an even better walk as by being off lead he's free to race from one tree to another, and any other object visible to the human eye or not that has caught his interest. I tend to stick to a route that's well-trodden, knowing certain waypoints of the walk he'll wait at should he not have seen me for a little time.
I'm trying to get the walks to be 5km in the mornings as it sets both of us pretty well for the day, later I'll do a 5km stop/strat run and this seems to be having the desired effect on my mid-drift general state of mind.
Onto the BIG common now and we're taking a very circuitous route, this is good for Arthur as it refreshes our walks and good for me as if we went on a direct route we wouldn't hit the 5km