A very good girl just paced (and pulled) her human to a new mile PR.
That good girl is Gigi, a 3-year-old San Francisco-based German Shorthaired Pointer and Doberman mix.
And that human is Vanessa Fraser, a professional distance runner for Saucony, who, with Gigi’s help, won the San Francisco Dog Mile last weekend in 4:31, four seconds faster than her official PR.
Apparently, Gigi has never heard of negative splitting: She pulled Fraser through 400 meters in 61 seconds and 800 meters in 2:09. Then Gigi started to get tired, “so the second half felt like I was running a normal race without getting assisted,” says Fraser.
Still, it was an impressive performance from a pup who Fraser says rarely runs with her. “She seems to get tired or bored pretty quickly, so I’ve never really pushed her,” says Fraser. “But some of these shorter distance sprints she gets excited about.”
A few weeks before the dog mile, Fraser and Gigi did one 400-meter rep as a test, with Fraser’s boyfriend biking ahead to give Gigi something to chase. They ran it in 58 seconds, faster than Fraser has ever run. “It feels like you’re flying,” she says.
Though the race was (unofficially) Fraser’s fastest-ever mile, Gigi’s help meant that it didn’t quite feel like it. “I wasn’t as tired as if I’d raced without the dog—I was breathing really hard, but I didn’t have as much lactic acid buildup in my legs since they were getting help, and I was just trying to keep up aerobically,” she says. “Gigi was winded, too—she was panting pretty good for a while.”
Fraser learned quickly that racing with a dog comes with some quirks. When another dog was being rambunctious at the start, Gigi got nervous and hid between Fraser’s legs. Gigi then false started several times because she wanted to run to Fraser’s boyfriend, and when they got to the finish, Gigi clotheslined one of the volunteers holding the tape with her leash. But overall, “I think she had a good time and handled the new and crazy environment really well,” says Fraser.
Fraser isn’t the first runner to be pulled to greatness by a dog. In canicross races, which are popular in Europe, dogs pull humans along via a bungee leash on the trails. (Canicross athlete Ben Robinson and his dog, Zuma, have run a blazing-fast 11:56 5K.) For Fraser’s race, she used a harness setup from the canicross brand Nonstop Dogwear, which she says was key for her and Gigi’s comfort and allowing Gigi to pull her safely.
Fraser’s dog mile victory came shortly after she shared that a throat issue had been preventing her from fueling properly and had derailed her season (she recently placed 12th in the 10,000 meters at the U.S. Championships). “The dog mile was a fun distraction from the intensity of elite training and recovering from this health issue,” she says. “It was so different from the normal pressure of competing at a high level. It felt like I was part of a team, and I miss that team aspect of cross country or doing a relay in college.”
Though more dog races may be in Fraser and Gigi’s future (Fraser is sure they could go much faster with some focused training for Gigi), the real goal on the horizon is a marathon debut—and possibly a build to the Olympic Trials in the marathon. For now, she’s focused on getting back to health and being able to fuel at full capacity.
“Right now, it’s almost impossible to take down enough fuel before a run, which doesn’t work so well with marathoning,” she says. “I’m trying to be really patient.”
Lauren Wingenroth is a freelance writer covering fitness, running, sports, the performing arts, and more. A former editor of Dance Magazine, her work has appeared in The New York Times, GQ, Outside, SELF, PS, ESPN, Well+ Good, Playbill, American Theater, and other outlets. She is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, a marathoner, and a North Carolinian.