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*** For a race report with photos, visit my Why Run? blog ***
What is more fun than running a race? Running a race with my dogs! This morning I was joined by Haven and Beacon for the 1st annual Healthy Paws Healthy Cause Fun Run, a 4-mile event for dogs and their people. I've done two 5Ks with Haven before, but I've never attempted a race while being hitched to both of my wannabe sled dogs! This should be interesting...
The event was organized by the Cascade Hospital for Animals with proceeds to benefit Mackenzie's Animal Sanctuary. There were no age groups, awards, or even official results - it's just what it says, a "fun run" to get folks out enjoying the morning with their dogs. Over 80 people signed up, not bad for the first ever event. The race director I recognized (via her dog!) as Dr. Happel, the runner that I barely out-kicked at the finish of the 2006 Bailey's Doggie Dash (if you follow the link, she's in the orange shirt in the photos on the bottom row of the page).
Going into this race I wasn't planning to run all out; rather, I wanted to maintain a tempo pace as best I could but primarily just have fun with Haven and Beacon. Since most participants were planning to walk, I lined up near the front; there were about 7 runners ahead of me. Dogs and people were still milling about - in fact, one lady was petting Haven - when the race director shouted out "Five seconds!" And we're off!
The guy at the front broke free quickly and Haven and Beacon decided to chase him - hard! I had no choice but to join their pursuit and within 100 yards of the start we had passed everyone except the leader! It turns out that only eight people were running; the rest were walkers. I pulled alongside the front guy and we sheepishly confided that it felt rather weird to be leading a race. We kept looking back for a while, assuming that some fast runners would blow by us.
We chatted for the first mile where I learned that his dog - weimaraner named Bailey (not the one from Bailey's Doggie Dash) - was five years old, just a year old than my two pups. She loves the water and behaves well on a leash; so well in fact that the guy (funny how I know his dog's name but never learned his!) had the handle of his flexi-lead in his shorts pocket the whole time. If I tried that with my dogs they'd rip my shorts right off me!
With Haven and Beacon leading the way we cruised past the first mile marker in 6:45, a very fast pace for me. The course then ascended a moderate hill and Bailey's owner exlaimed "Uh oh Bailey, daddy's not feeling too good!" and sure enough, he began to fall back as my dogs pulled me upward. Going down the hill my feet were burning - I realized that I hadn't tied my shoelaces tight enough and the soles of my feet were sliding along the bed of my shoe.
Mile two was the beginning of an undulating portion of the course, most of which was run on paved pedestrian paths. With nobody to chase, Haven and Beacon slowed their pace and were no longer pulling me up the hills. Around mile 2.5 Bailey and her owner caught up with us and we ran side-by-side for the next half mile. This time we didn't say anything as we all needed to conserve our oxygen.
Somehow I must've programmed my dogs for a 5K distance (maybe they read my blog?) because soon after we passed the third mile marker (in 21:50, not bad!) they slowed waaaay down. Bailey and her runner kept their momentum going and pulled steadily away from us as I was forced to drag Haven and Beacon forward! Those lazy dogs. :) Finally they realized I wasn't going to stop and they ran beside me the rest of the way.
We passed some pedestrians going the opposite way to relayed to me that the guy ahead of me "was very concerned that I would catch him", but I told them he had nothing to worry about. Not only were my dogs worn out, I was out of energy as well and we struggled most of the last mile. After passing Amanda with her camera, we finally reached the finish line! Sure enough Bailey had won and Haven and Beacon shared second place just one minute behind in 30:29. It was about five minutes until the next runners began showing up. Walkers continued to trickle into the finish for the next hour.
The organizers thought of everything, providing water (for both humans and canines), bagels, bananas, donuts, and dog treats for the finishers. Haven and Beacon eagerly helped themselves to some water while I shared a banana with Haven. After eating my peanut-covered donut, the dogs both got some treats and then finally I remembered to drink some water myself. Once we got home Amanda had the three of us pose for the obligatory post-race photo, all sporting our event t-shirt and bandanas. Haven and Beacon are now fast asleep at my feet. :) What a fun race!
It's getting pretty hot these days here in Michigan. Tuesday morning I went for a run at 0600 with our newest foster dog Reese and it was already in the 60's! We only ran for 2.5 miles but I surprised myself (and perhaps Reese, too!) by holding a 8:15 pace without feeling too tired. We stopped at the river halfway and I discovered that Reese does not like water!
Today I ran with my co-workers at lunch, but beforehand I tried an experiment. Results? Don't eat before running! I completely wonked out on our 5-miler and practically dragged myself back to work. 87 degress and humidity didn't help the issue.
As long as I'm linking to my running blog I might as well add a link for my Memorial Day article honoring dogs.
Yesterday I wasn't in the mood for running but I was a good boy and went out for a run anyway. I took Beacon with me and he was a good boy as well - usually he pulls a lot but for some reason he was super obedient for our run! Both of us had a lot of fun and I was really happy that I forced myself out the door with running shoes on.
I needed to do some speedwork so Beacon and I warmed up by jogging the one mile through downtown to the local fairgrounds, where there's a 1/4-mile dirt track. I let Beacon off leash and ran some laps. I hadn't done this in a long time but was happy with the results. My plan was to run the first lap hard, next lap medium, third lap hardest, fourth lap slow, and then go from there. Between each of these laps was a slow jog/walk lap for recovery.
It worked! First lap was 82 seconds, second was 90, third was 75 (holy cow!) and fourth was 105 seconds. The 75 seconds was the fastest I've run a 1/4 mile since high school, although I did run a 76 last fall. Then I decided to see how well I could "suck it up" and do another fast lap despite being tired and at the end of my workout. I surprised myself by clocking 77 seconds! I would've been happy just to get under 90.
This Saturday is my next 5K, the Riverbank Run, which is the biggest running event in Grand Rapids. The marquee race is a 25K - it's the national championships for that distance - but there's also a 5K. I was really tempted to do the 25K with the goal of running it in less than 2 hours (it's everyone's goal for that race, it seems) but this year I want to focus on speed (slow as I am) and run a good 5K.
Too bad I can't run it with Haven and Beacon!