Pippin's First 5K!

Hey guys! Pippin did GREAT at the See Spot Run 5K yesterday. It was not a chip race, so I'm going with our watch time which was 36:02. He was SEVERAL minutes ahead of the goal time I had set for us, and he had fun so that's all that matters. Their results aren't up yet so I'm not sure what place we came in, but we were faster than a LOT of people and a LOT of people + dogs. I'll let you know how we placed whenever that stuff is posted.

The race started at 8 am, so we had to get up a little after 6, which I am not complaining about after the past couple of weeks! So far this year I've done 1 marathon, 3 half marathons and 1 5K (that was less than 2 weeks after the marathon...), so doing an easy 5K today felt like a dream! It went by so quickly, even though we were going at Pippin's pace! When we arrived about 20 after 7 the pre-registration line was forever long! We got in line and two other little Boston Terrier were a couple of people behind us. Of course Pippin made instant friends! It was really QUITE a sight to see all the people and their dogs. I was a little worried about poorly behaved dogs, but I have to say I was REALLY impressed. Like most parents, us dog parents think our dogs are the best, and that "their poop doesn't stink", when really they're absolute heathens/wild Indians most of the time. There was really only one dog (a schnauzer) who should NOT have been there. That dog snapped at everything, he was such a prick. She got near me at the starting line so I moved over. I had my dog Dazer on me just in case things got out of control!

Once we got checked in Brent ran the "doggie bag" every runner got back to the car and Pippin and I wandered around making friends. He was SO excited. He had seen me grab his little red tote bag last night, so he knew something was up. Pippin has a few pieces of luggage - his red bag means he's going to the kennel, his blue bag means we're going to the park, and the large black bag means we're ALL going on a trip together. And trust me, when he sees the bag chaos ensues! I needed his rabies vaccination, and I keep that in his kennel bag. So he had been wound up since Friday night when he saw the bag come out. He's such a social butterfly that I was really worried about him wearing himself out BEFORE the race even started. He was pulling me all over the place, but when we finally lined up he calmed down. I think he felt a little weird being smashed in such tight quarters.

The race turn-out was so large they ended up delaying the start 10 minutes for all the people still checking in. If you're a competitive runner this would've been a great race. Most of the people there were walking with their dogs, so I'm pretty confident that as a runner I could've placed really high. (There were also 2 larger 5Ks in town today, one of which had a cash prize money, so that's where the speedsters were.) But what would be the fun in placing at a race for dogs without your dog??? I would have felt terrible out racing with Pippin at home lonely.

When the race started it was quite the sight!! People and dogs just started running!! The dogs were hilarious. They were all just booking it, all the doggie hanky panky was over and they had a purpose. It was so funny. Every once in a while you'd see a dog jerk its owner off the course for a fire plug visit or to sniff something, but for the most part the larger dogs were just running and Pippin was right up there with them. I knew he needed to pace himself, so I tried to reign him in as much as possible. Brent was jumping around taking pics, running ahead and then running with us. I was surprised at how fast Pips was going! I heard a few "I can't believe that little Boston Terrier just passed me" comments, so I was proud of my little shorty. Towards the end of Mile 1 I wasn't sure how long he could keep this up! He finished Mile 1 in 9:55. I stopped to take a walk break but he didn't want to walk! He didn't like it when people passed him. So, we kept jogging slowly.

Around mile 1.25 they had a water stop. I had thought today was supposed to be cool and overcast, but it was neither. We were trying to stay in as much shade as possible, but Pippin was still panting pretty heavily. Luckily they had little water bowls for dogs, so he lapped up some water and onward we went! I knew he must not be TOO hot or he would have laid down in the spilled water around the bowls. From here on out we did run-walk breaks. We still walked really quickly, and every once in a while he'd stop for a sit break. But when a runner + dog would pass he'd pick it back up! Around mile 2 some fire trucks came whizzing down the course so I scooped him up to hurry and get out of the way. We covered mile 2 in 12:31.












From there you sort of go back past the start line and then repeat an early part of the course before taking a different turn to the finish line. There were a lot of people around there and Pippin really wanted to hang out with them! He was starting to slow down, so we kept our fast walk going. A mid size dog came up on us and Pippin really wanted him to stop and play, then we rounded a corner where an enormous hairy dog was resting in the shade. Pippin went straight over to him and wanted to lie down and relax as well! They exchanged some licks and luckily two young boxers came running through so I convinced Pippin to start running again to try to catch them! We finished mile 3 in 12:34. By this point you could see the finish line - we were so close!! So of course he sat down. Didn't want to budge at all!! We put on our "excited voices" and told him we were almost there, and somehow got him to sprint to the finish in a 10:30 pace for the last .1! Some young girls were in the finish area taking your race tag so he quickly revived and tried to make friends. I can't believe he did it!!! He did awesome.

There were 3 other Bostons there, and if there had been a Boston Terrier division he would've had first. Even if they had had a small dog division he would've been second. There was only one other dog his size who beat us, so that's great! They gave out prizes to the top 3 dog finishers, as well as the usual age categories. One of the wives of our local Fleet Feet store took top female, and she and her dog took second in the dog category. Her dog was really sweet, Pippin loved her! The prizes were really cool. The race was a benefit for Habitat for Humanity. 1st place was a little birdhouse, 2nd place was a hammer and 3rd place was a paintbrush. The organizers at MTSU did a GREAT job! And they all looked very young, like university students. A lot of races could learn from these kids!

We walked around and picked up some of the freebies vendors were giving out (coupons for free dog toys, dog bandannas, little T Mobile frisbees) and then headed home. Pippin was ZONKED! He was asleep in just a couple of minutes. He had a great day! I don't think we'll make running 3 miles a habit, but we'll definitely do more run-walking with him this summer.

I hope you guys had a great weekend!! I hope everyone else racing had a GREAT time! Today Brent took me house shopping, so that makes for the best Mother's Day ever! We also did a ton of work on our own house to get it ready to go on the market. More on that (including pics of the houses we looked at and the fantastic sights that surrounded them) later!

Rachel

Exercise-
Fri - .6 mile run .4 mile walk with Pippin
Sat - 3.1 mile run with Pippin, 5 mile run with Brent