I heart my little Holly Bear. With a Groupon as an added incentive, I was in. The race was to benefit animal rescues in Gainesville, and dogs were encouraged to participate. So Hubby and I woke up Saturday morning, got ourselves dressed, and took three dogs for a 5-K, with what I can only imagine to have been close to a couple hundred other dogs around. Mayhem, people.
The event was not really well organized. We pre-registered, and showed up at the appointed time, only to learn the process would take a couple of trips. Apparently t-shirts hadn't arrived promptly. With that confusion cleared up, race day seemed like we'd be able to show up and go. Only they apparently were short staffed and looking for volunteers to help register other people and set things up. The race that was supposed to start at 9 AM finally started at 9:30, and the dogs were chomping at the bit.
In spite of that, we had a great time. Waiting was chilly, as a cold front had come in overnight and the windchill was a little unbearable, but once we got walking, things were much better. We spent most of the 5-K walking, but ran for a little ways in the middle and finished the last half mile at a run. We're way out of shape, and not used to running with three dogs anyway. I set a new personal record: my slowest time on a 5K! But we got participation ribbons, which I'm sure made the dogs pretty proud.
I'd like to say it wore them out; but Siren acted like she could have run a marathon immediately following, and the boys were ready for action shortly after the race. We stayed for the 1 mile (though it seemed suspiciously shorter than a mile) pet parade and headed home. It made me miss my 5K days from when I was younger, so I'm considering figuring out how to deal with my knee pain so that I can try running again. We'll definitely do this one again next year.
We almost signed up for this so I'm glad to hear it was a great time!
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