Race Day! (We did a 5k)

On Saturday, Jake and I participated in a 5k Run/Walk to support a local animal rescue group! This was the first time I had ever done anything like this... partly because it's outside of my comfort zone and also because with Charlie's noise-reactivity and dog aggressiveness, we'd never been able to participate in something like this (it would totally stress her out!).

VIDEO (riding the shuttle bus):

Shuttle Bus Jake

But now that I have Jake, I can finally do activities that include other dogs! Jake is a total social butterfly and absolutely LOVES meeting other dogs. He's such an easy-going dog. I never have to stress about him meeting/greeting other dogs.

VIDEO (meeting & greeting):

We had a lot of "firsts" for this event. Jake rode a shuttle bus for the first time (he did fairly well after he settled down and got over the initial excitement that there were other dogs on the bus and he wanted to meet them all!).

VIDEO (meeting the mascot):

When it was our turn to line up at the start line, I wasn't anticipating running the race but rather walking. However, when all the other people and dogs started running, Jake wanted to keep up with them! So we ran (jogged) for much of the first half of the race. Once the pack started thinning out and there weren't dogs in front of Jake urging him on, he resorted to his usual "weaving wanderer" style of walking and stopped to sniff where all the other dogs had peed.

Everyone lined up to start in the pouring rain.

We also did the whole thing in pouring rain. It was a miserably cold 42 degrees and constant rain for the entire time we were at the event, which included 45 minutes of standing around before the 45 minutes of our race time.

Jake in the blue harness on the right

Jake (blue harness) & myself (pink jacket) in the background

VIDEO (running the race!):

We were soaked to the bone. My clothes were dripping wet all the way down to my undergarments. My shoes were squishy. Jake's leash was soaked. All of our clothes and gear must have weighed an additional 10 lbs with all the water we were carrying.

But we did it! We finished the race. Although as we approached the finish line, Jake kept trying to pull me off-course toward the other dogs waiting in the pavilion. I laughed so hard as I pulled him back on track so we could cross the finish line.

On our way home to dry off!

It was all a big socializing party for Jake and he just wanted to get back to all his new dog friends. The weather was awful, but every day with Jake is a fun day and he gets me laughing even when things aren't perfect. Love my little man.