Greek Marathoner: Scooby

Scooby May 11, 2002 – April 12, 2014 (11 years 11 months 1 day)

Scooby was a great dog… actually Scooby was not a dog he was part of our family and we miss him so very much. When he was a puppy we lived by the beach in Cyprus and he loved to walk around the gardens of our community and on the beach. The picture to the right of this blog shows our house in Cyprus and the gardens in Thera. In 2004 we returned to the US and he loved to walk around our condo community every morning and afternoon. In 2007, we moved to the house and we walked a 2 mile loop every morning and every afternoon passing by a couple of parks along the way. By 2010, we cut the walks to the nearest park and back, twice a day and by 2012 we were down to one walk per day, half a mile to the park and back. Even though he was getting older and no longer could go too far, he loved his walks.

On Tuesday April 8, he went to the park for the last time with Cathy…. he got sick Wednesday, in and out of the hospital for 3 days. Thursday night he came home at midnight he was rushed to the emergency room at 5am as his breathing was labored and he needed to be put in the oxygen chamber again. He was supposedly doing better and Friday night had a good night at home. Cathy took him back in on Saturday morning for more treatment as his breathing was still not where it was supposed to be. I was driving back from Raleigh and the plan was to bring him home and help cheer him up. I did not make it. He was gone before I arrived. We later found out that the Saturday morning x-rays showed a worsen condition with his lungs.

with our raincoats...

He had a good week three weeks ago when our daughter, Melina, came home from London, I was at home too before I started my new job in Raleigh and Cathy took the week off from her job. The whole family was together for that week like the old days. We went to Williamsburg and Richmond. Then I left for Raleigh and Melina left the next day for London. It was just him and Cathy. When I got home the following weekend he would not leave my side. I left Sunday night and that was the last time I saw him. He did not survive through the second week. He lost his training buddy. We walked every day. Rain or shine. On rainy days I would put both of our raincoats on with our hoodies and we went out in the rain to walk. He hated his raincoat, an army camouflage one with a hoodie. He liked his black and pink sweater he wore when it was too cold.

exhausted after a run in the summer

He liked the sweater... but he hated the raincoat with the hoodie!

I have not been able to run since he passed. When I am at home in VB I just go out and find myself going around the 2 mile loop we did together when he was younger.

We got Scooby for my daughter when she was 10 years old. But she left home for the UK more than 5 years ago and he really became my buddy. So what if I am a 51yo grey hair man and my buddy was a Yorkie?