The race started uphill and went that way until just past the first mile. It was funny to see everyone lined up with their dogs at the start of the race. The race director started us off with a bull horn squawk that made all the dogs want to scatter :) Trixie was definitely a little confused by the mass start so I kept her pretty close until we got clear of everyone. OK, until everyone was clear of us - 'cause we were certainly bringing up the rear of the pack. We were able to keep the people ahead of us in sight for most of the race, so that prompted Trixie to keep pulling to from being completely dropped. She's so cute when she runs because she tucks her ears back like she's getting some sort of aero advantage out of it. We ended up walking maybe a third to half of the first mile because my sorry butt just wasn't into the hill thing this morning, but we ran the second mile and a good bit of the first, so I'm happy with that. I only ended up turning my right ankle twice, so the race was fairly injury free as far as trail runs go for me. There was a Westy that got a ride from it's human during most of the second mile, which was against the rules, but other than that, not much in the way of Ben Hurr fighting/racing/cheating as might be expected with 40 or so dogs on the course at once. I would guess that there was at least 75 other human/dog pairs that walked the course after the runners were started. The communal doggy water stops/aid stations were a nice touch and Trixie took advantage of both of them during the race. After we finished, I saw a couple more runners come in after us. Come to think of it, this is the first running race where I didn't come in Dead Farking Last! Well, unless you count the three eight year old girls that I beat at the Pumpkin Chase two years ago. I guess I must have had a good pacer today :)

Well, the greyhounds were obviously on EPO and I'd put money on that mastiff being juiced up on something... So, I guess Trixie and I need to start a regimen of hGH if we want to shoot for second place next year - KIDDING!!

Walked around, split a bagel and a couple cups of water with Trixie and looked at the results. OMG! There were only four male runners with dogs in Trixie's weight class, and one came in after me... WOOHOO - HARDWARE!! Trixie got a nice little trophy with a dog on it :) During the awards ceremony, she fell off the front of the podium and got her leg hung up on her leash and from the front side of the podium it looked like she was peeing on it... What is it that they say about working with kids and animals?

After doing this race today, I'm thinking it might be fun to organise a dog/human aquathlon. Half mile swim followed by a 2 mile run? Hmm...


You mean aside from me being slow, fat and tired? Um, nothing.


Very fun race and it was for a great cause - the Animal Rescue League of Berks County. Trixie and I will certainly do this again next year.