Rossisms: Friends Of Animals 5k-9 Fun Run Race Report

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Friends Of Animals 5k-9 Fun Run Race Report

On Saturday we ran in the FOA 5k-9 Fun Run in Park City Utah. The run was part of the "Bark In The Park" event. One of the reasons that we decided to run this race was because you could run with your dog. Audrey has been wanting to run a race with Maya for a long time, and we thought it would be hilarious to be a part of.

They had the runners with no dogs start first, and then the runners with dogs start 15-30 seconds afterwards. I opted to not run with Mountie because in dog years he is equivalent to an old man, and he can only last about 1 mile at a good pace. So I took off with the non-dog runners. I settled into third place at a pretty decent pace, not really wanting to kill myself early on because 1st and 2nd place were still within distance of catching and passing.

I was gaining ground on the 2nd place runner and passed him in a rural area of the course where the road was doing some winding. I was probably about 50 yards behind first place with about a mile and a quarter to go. Plenty of time to catch him. But as soon as I passed the guy who was in 2nd I noticed his shadow and his arm was waving up and down. So I looked up and off to the right where it looked like he was pointing and there was an arrow telling us to turn. 1st place missed the turn so he was disqualified. I left the guy who was now in 2nd behind and basically died the last 1/2 mile into the finish, but finished 1st place overall!! In 19:13 no less! A new personal record for the 5k!

After about a minute Audrey and Maya came flying across the finish line, which was a total surprise because I thought they would be farther back. 1st Female overall (she even beat the girls who were running without a dog and they got a head start) 1st place overall runner with a dog, and a PR for her too. 20:12!

Once we got a drink and got Maya a drink we let Mountie out of the car and explored the other 100 dogs that were at the park. We hung around till we got our awards: $50.00 each to JANS Sporting Goods Store, $25.00 each to the Tanger Outlet Mall, and a huge winner's medal.

After that we went and ate lunch, then spent some of our winnings! We each got a pair of sandals at JANS, and then I got 3 pairs of socks and Audrey got a TRI suit at the Pearl Izumi store at Tanger.

All in all a great day!!!