Fun Run turned Fur Run

  Well, do you know what I get for having a slow nap day, seeking out family friendly activities at Elemendorf, and feeling sorry for Izzy who hasn't been on her normal walking schedule since the baby came?  The Elmendorf Dog Fun Run.  

I thought what could be a more perfect way to spend a Saturday morning?  Dog gets exercise and socialization, 2 year old gets exercise and socialization (with a marked route he can run on without fear of traffic), and we all get some much needed fresh spring air.  Justin wasn't as thrilled as I was, but agreed to go.  It was a 1.5 mile walk, or a 5 K run.

I have to admit that the only guy I actually saw do the 5K run was this combo....  Although he did take the poor thing's puff vest off after a while, it's hard to run in that I bet!

So, we packed up the jeep and headed out.  As you can see, at least two of us were excited.

 

Registration was at 11, so my goal was to head out at 1045.  By 1115 we were showing our IDs to the gate guard.  Not on time, but not too bad for having two kids, right?

 

We stood in line to register, and Justin was thrilled..... All these dog owners, most of which had no business owning a dog, let alone the breed they did, children, and a stroller.  Not his ideal Saturday.  When it was our turn to register, he asked how many would be participating, I said just one.  The guy looked at me kinda strange but said okay.  Turns out, he was asking about people.  I figured we were registering the dog, since it was a "Pet Fun Run", but nope, we were registering the people.  They drew some prizes, all of which were actually for dogs, so really we should have registered dogs anyway, but I digress.

I was waiting for them to hand me a paper with a large number on it to tape to Izzy's back.  Nope, all I got was some Alaskan Chummy dog treats.  I guess it wasn't a real marathon.  So we waited.

 Here is what Rowan did for the whole race.

 Jenssen was quite excited to walk Izzy.  So excited, he decided to be a dog for a while and pant like all the dogs were doing.  Oh Jenssen.

 This picture made me laugh.  Just a boy and a dog, waiting for their race.

 We had to listen to the directions.  Yes, that's right, there were directions.  Leave it up to the military (well, AirForce really..) to put on a marathon, but not mark the route.  Instead we had to listen to this lady and remember to take a right here, left there, straight until this street, turn on that street....  Well, not unlike most of my life, I wasn't listening.  I was instead trying to keep Jenssen out of many piles of dog poop.  I figured I'd just follow the crowd.

 Good plan.  Except my curious toddler wanted to walk, and not in straight line.  He also had to point out every plane he saw flying above us.  We were literally 100 yards from a flight line, so he had quite a few to point out.  Before long, we couldn't even see the other walkers or their 4 legged friends.  Maybe next time I will listen.

 

Just a boy, out for a stroll.  Obviously competition isn't a priority for this curious kid.

 We did eventually come upon a sign that told us we were at least still on the right path.  Jenssen got tired (he did walk a good half mile though!) and decided to hitch a ride in the stroller.  Justin and I jogged to catch up and before long we found all of our furry friends.

Including Stella.  Oh Stella... she was a tired gal by the second half of the race.  Had my double stroller not been full of my sleeping offspring by this point, I would have offered her a ride.  I hope she was able to make it back.

So, despite a rough and slow start, we didn't' finish last! Pretty close, but not last!  They had water for pets and owners at the end.  Not going to lie, I was disappointed that we didn't get a number, but it was fun.  Next year I'll just spray paint a number on Izzy.  On the way home, Justin and I agreed that the best part was seeing all the dogs and their owners.  It always amazes me how similar some people are to the dogs they own.  It was like watching the Thanksgiving Day Dog show live!  That, and the fact that by the end of the day, we had two tired boys and one content dog.  That makes for a happy mommy!

Then, of course, we had to take a bath before bed.  This kid is growing, holy cow!  My little chunk...