Blue Dog 5k Rover Run

Sat's Blue Dog 5k was well worth the drive and the heat. We got a chance to see all of Cricket's past Blue Dog friends and meet the lady who found Riley at the Bastrop shelter. With out her, he most likely would never had been brought to Aussie Rescue's attention and would have been euthanized. Thank goodness for these wonderful people.

There was lots of water and Gatorade set out before the race in big iced down baby pools. The people drank the water and gatorade in the bottles and the dogs drank the ice water. There was loads of food to eat for both dogs and people. No calories lost at this race.

The 1k for the kids took off at 8am. We had to wait another 30 mins for the 5k. If I could ask for anything, it would be that our race start no later than 8am. In the Texas heat, it gets substantially more miserable the later into the morning you wait for a run to start.

At 8:30 they sang the National Anthem then blew the air horn. People without dogs were at the front and people with dogs were at the back. I wish they wouldn't do that. But, luckily it is a tiny enough race that Cricket and I swung to the outside of the cones and just eased our way past all the walkers and joggers. It always makes me laugh at the number of people who actually take off at break neck speed for the first 3/4 of a mile. You would think we were racing just a mile. Going into the first turn, I could see we had about 10 dogs on our tail and about 4 in front of us. We were neck and neck with this fit looking guy and sorta fit looking Cocker Spaniel. I didn't think the Cocker could hang and sure enough, about 1.5 miles in he and his person starting lagging. I have to admit Cricket must have been nervous about the Cocker because she ran under the guy's leash and popped it out of his hands. Oops! Then this older but very fit looking gentleman darted past us when we had to stop for a potty break. (Cricket gets the Runners Trots) I knew he wouldn't last. His dog was already at the back end of the leash and had one ear popping through from the man yanking on him to go faster. They were done.

Cricket was still on the front end of the leash pulling my bike weary legs along.(I did the Real Ale ride 80 miler plus another 15 on Sat) We passed one guy who said, "That's not fair. Your dog is pulling you". Yeah...not fair for her. She'd be winning this race if not for my slow ass. We were in second now and pulling away from our competition. Just one little Collie mix up ahead. I could see them about a qtr of a mile ahead. I thought, he could stop and walk and would probably still beat us. It was hot and I was miserable but I kept telling myself, "5ks are suppose to suck". Cricket never gave up the slack. She had been doing her speed work (and I'm not kidding here) and she was all about the race. I don't know what she was thinking...she doesn't know, like I do, when the pain is going to end. She was just full force till I said we were done. She is a running machine! We came around for the last 1.2 mile loop and I could see the leader. We were closing the gap! Not to get anyone's hopes up. We never caught him but we got damn close. I'd say we were well within 50 meters by the time the race was done. We finished in a time of 21:10. I didn't wear a chip but I clicked my watch. Cricket was 2nd dog over all. I actually would have been 2nd woman if I had worn a chip. (this pic is of us rounding the last corner. Cricket took it a bit wide)

We got lots of good bootie. Cricket won a $100 personal trainer visit from Lee Mannix and a weekend get away to a day spa. Also, a 1 yr supply of heartworm medicine.

The run was great and well organized. I highly recommend it to those with or without dogs. You don't have to fight the crowds of some of the larger races and they have nice prices for 1st-3rd in multiple age groups.