In one of my past Friday Fitness posts, I wrote about how my husband was
training for a Half Ironman - a triathlon comprised of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. He's completed several at this point, and he is now training for his first marathon. So this summer, he's been doing more running than swimming. But years of laps in the pool and the local ponds really paid off this weekend, when he was able to rescue a lone dog in the ocean.
We are lucky to live on beautiful Cape Cod, and on Friday night, we decided to go down to our town beach to enjoy happy hour at a little beach bar. Suddenly, a bunch of people began getting up off their chairs and pointing out toward the ocean. My immediate thought was "shark", because great white sharks have made a significant reappearance here since the seal population has exploded. Then I thought, no, probably just dolphins, and went over to join the small crowd to have a look.
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That dot out there is the
buoy the dog was trying
to get to. |
It was a dog, way out in the water, by himself, clearly struggling. He was trying to get to a buoy floating in the water that marks the line where swimmers should not pass. Presumably, he was looking for a spot to climb on to, but the buoy was just a floating ball. People began whistling and calling, hoping he would turn toward shore. Several women, including myself, were starting to panic.
Then the dog, unable to get on to the buoy, turned the wrong way and began paddling out to sea. A young man who had been walking along the beach with his mother started to go in after the dog. But the dog was moving quickly past the buoy out into open ocean, and the pup was clearly growing tired.
I knew my husband would have a shot at catching him. After all, he swims miles, training for triathlons. Despite the fact that he was fully clothed, he took off his shirt, handed me everything in his pockets, and went in. He's a strong and fast swimmer, and he closed the distance quickly. He cut the dog off and sent him in the right direction, toward the other man who had entered the water. Then the two of them towed the dog in, toward shore, where the crowd had gathered.
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| Happy Ending...back with his owner :) |
Eventually, "Rebel", a 7-month-old puppy who apparently lives up to his name, was reunited with his owner, and the story has a happy ending. Well, the belt my husband was wearing has seen better days, but that's okay. I'm so proud of him, first for being the kind of guy who would do such a great thing, and secondly, for training so rigorously he was able to save the day! He's my real life hero...and I wouldn't be surprised if this scene shows up in one of my future novels!
