Booker's first race

 I found out about a race about 30 minutes away from us.  It was the first Reindeer Run 5K, hosted by the PTA of a local school.  They said dogs were welcome and part of the proceeds went to a local animal rescue.  They also collected donations for the rescue.

The weather has been so crappy and it snowed pretty hard last night.  Marc and I decided to head down and crossed our fingers we'd be able to race.

It snowed on our way down.  When we got there it had stopped and the town was valiantly trying to get the snow cleared from all the streets, including the race route.  I was concerned it would be too slippery to run - but it was for a good cause and we could always walk, so we decided to go ahead and sign up.

 I got the dogs into their Christmas sweaters and we were welcomed into the fire hall to sign in.  The people hosting the race were SO nice and because it was a PTA event there were a lot of young kids running around.  The dogs garnered a ton of attention.

We lined up and they blew the horn to start the race.  The roads were very slushy and slippery - for me - the dogs wanted to run fast.  I was afraid they would pull me down and had to keep telling them to slow down while holding them close to me and going SLOW.  At about 1 mile in, the road was wet but clear and so I gave them complete slack and we ran fast.  

We passed a whole bunch of people and I was so proud of them as they ran by people and checked them out but didn't get distracted.  We came flying across the finish line as it started snowing again - big fat flakes.

We then headed in for post race snacks and awards.  They had hot cocoa and as we got ours, they sprayed whipped cream in cups for the dogs.  The dogs were hugged and petted by tons of little kids and were sweet and calm with all of them.  I expected that from Sisko, but even Booker managed to mostly keep in control.

They called me up to accept a "Most Festive" medal.

This was a small race but we had a great time and it was perfect for Booker's first race.  

When we got home the dogs crashed.  I swear they were way more tired from all the attention and interaction than they ever are from running!