KC Humane Society Dog-n-Jog Recap

Hands down. Favorite race of the year. 2 miles, 4 laps around the plaza with 2,100 other dogs. What else is there to say?

The "race" was Sunday at 8:15am, so Goliath, Logan and our friends Danee and (you all know) Ellie the greyhound loaded in our car and drove down to the Plaza. We got there early enough to register Danee and Ellie for the 1 mile run, and explore all the booths. Tons of goodies and treats for dogs, and really clever incentives like turn in your picked up dog poop for a entry into a raffle, thus encouraging dog clean up. There was agility workshops and several shelters and this goes without saying, but TONS of dogs.

Every dog was so well behaved, and it was like Goliath and I were in the mecca of people-human-combos just like us. It was a sanctuary for us: dogs that need to run, and furparents that need to run either for the sake of their sanity or their pets. Nobody got all bent out of shape when Goliath sniffed their kids butt, and vice-a-versa. What is going on? You aren't totally anal about who your dog associates with? Guys, I could have cried. Magic. I loved it. Such unadulterated happiness, for us both.

I put race in quotes because: it's not chip timed, running clock, four laps, loosely measured and really not competitive at all. Regardless, I set a goal for us: finish sub16. It was a two mile race, four laps total(woah that gets boring). On our first lap, G-Money took world's largest poo right in the middle of the road. I was mortified. He just stopped short, squatted and done deal-2lbs of poopie for people to run in. So I scooped it up, back tracked to a trashcan and continued to run-only to see another mortified runner guarding her dog's mess. She, unfortunately, had not brought a bag. I untied my spare for her, handed it over and carried on.

The rest is history. We did three more laps, all on cue. Goliath was incredibly behaved, I think he wanted to prove to his counterparts that even though at the dog park he's a nut, on a leash with mileage ahead he's a machine. We'd pass bigger, faster dogs and he'd look bank with a little twinkle in his eyes Yeah, I was bred for road racing-eat mai dust. Once he even barked at someone slowing down, could it be? My little motivator motivating other pups? Nah, he was probably just gloating This is nuffin, I run two miles in mai kennel.

We finished at 15:03, grabbed some water and had our picture taken by the newspaper. Considering our little poopie snafoo, and our benevolence I was really pleased. Goliath was too proper to swim in the dog pools provided, and instead wanted to lick the ice surrounded the water bottles for the humans. Nobody seemed to mind-seriously. Heaven for us, it's a shame it's only once a year.

If you're near the KC Metro area, love dogs and can run even a little bit-definitely do this next year, it was some of the most fun I've had in a long time. OH, and we made a cameo on the news: HERE, we run by at 0:49 mark, and my sassy little spouse is in the background the whole time.

Total Mileage: 2.0

Time: 15:03