Introducing Ronnie the Racer

This is my buddy Ronnie, she's a two year old light brownish mutt who loves to run, and spends most of her time training with sprints up and down the streets of Bangkok. She's developed a healthy enthusiam over the years for racing cars and buses, and more often than not she wins these races easily.

Ronnie is pictured here catching her breath after spending an afternoon doing wind sprints up and down Ratchadapisek Road on a humid, 95 degree day. She also loves going to the motorcycle races that take place all over the capital on Saturday nights, which are fueled by large numbers of bored young people looking for excitement. (Much as they are in the rest of the world, from what I hear).

Ronnie has yet to win one of her races with the motorcycles -- which is hardly surprising when one considers that the motorcycles often exceed speeds of 110 miles per hour -- but she regularly beats tuktuks and taxi meters whenever they challenge her.

In a city where every human and dog seems to be constantly running from one place to another, Ronnie has carved out a niche as Bangkok's premier canine sprinter. The 2008 Olympics are just around the corner and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ronnie bring home a few medals from Beijing.