I'm a 29-year-old Mt. Washington resident, and this year's Pig (I ran last year's, too -- what a great event!) will be my fifth full marathon. I've always trained alone, but this year, I got two new roommates -- a 32-year-old male runner and his 18-month-old puppy, Nakita, who is a 35-pound Shiba Inu/American Eskimo mix.

Nakita is AMAZING. This pup -- who is now known as SuperPuppy -- has run an average of 40 miles a week with me since I began training on February 13! Her peak was 49 miles in one week. We wake up at 4:15 a.m. and are out the door at 4:45 for at least eight miles. She loves it.

I feel more safe when I run early now, because up until recently it was completely dark in the mornings. She and I have been attacked by unleashed dogs three times since moving to Mt. Washington in October, and I got so fed up with people blatantly disobeying the City of Cincinnati's leash laws that I wrote a letter to the Enquirer about it, and it was published.

Thanks, and let's all hope for great weather on May 14!

Connie Kolita