This is how this morning’s run started. I was setting out to do 18 miles in my hometown, Bangor, while we are up here for the KahBang festival. I had originally planned to meet my friend for the run but logistics didn’t work out. At about 8 I had my dad pick me up from the camp ground and he drove me to downtown bangor, where I planned to run past my parents’ house to the end of their street and back down town, splitting the run in 3 segments. 6 miles to their house, three miles to the end of the road, turn around, refill at their house, and back downtown.

I was at the 4.3 mile mark – most of the way to their house – when a woman passed me in a minivan and I heard a squeal and a crash. I turned around and saw a little dog on the side of the road and the van putting on the brakes.

It was so sad.

I was the first person who got to the dog. He was a little miniature collie. And he was already gone by the time I wad at his side. I rubbed his little head and it was still warm.

I looked up to the driveway of the house he ran from and his owner was standing there. She just had the most numb expression. She was on the phone with her husband. I started crying. She started crying.

The woman who was driving the van was crying too. She said, “I was paying attention to [me] running on the side of the road and I didn’t see him…”

I started to tell her that I grew up on this road, and when I was young, my dog was loose and he was hit by a truck driving down the road too.

And as I said that, my parents and Tony came around the corner and stopped. They got out but there was nothing we could do, the dog was already gone.

There was a lot of standing around being sad. Then we got a blanket and brought the dog to the house.

His name was Lando. He was 7. His owners had just moved in.

I gave up on the rest of the run today. It was getting late and hot and my parents were there to take me home.

I feel terrible and somehow involved with what happened, even if the circumstances were out of my control. If you have a pet, please hug them today for me.