Katie's 5K9 Race Report

Hi, it's me Katie again, I wanted to tell you all about my race at the Austin 5K9 Walk,Run,Wag.

We got up really early on race morning, even before Connor woke up to whine for breakfast! I was still pretty sleepy when we left, so I slept in the car on the way. When we got close to Decker Lake I saw there were dogs in most of the other cars around us, fun! When we got to the park, I got super excited because there were dogs and people EVERYWHERE! When we finally got out of the car, I had to drag my parents over to where all the fun stuff was, I'm not sure what they were doing but they were being way too slow! In the main area there were lots of booths where people were giving stuff away, I got a new ball, a new frisbee, lots of treats, and tons of attention! I also got to meet Mia Adams, Hilda and Enzo Bush, and Carly Marek, I met lots of other dogs too, but my mom has told me a lot about Mia, Hilda and Enzo and Carly. I saw the Austin Pets Alive! booth where dogs without owners got to find people to run the race with, very cool!

My mom said "look at Tom" but I was saying thanks for bringing me to the race, it's fun already! Photo by Tom Marek

When it was almost time to start the race we got into the big crowd of dogs and people. Some of the dogs were barking and jumping and pulling, but after all our training, I knew I had to be good and wait for everyone to start. We found Banjo and Melissa, so yay! I'd get to run with Banjo again. Finally Logan counted down and said GO! We started running and I wanted to go FAST, but my mom kept holding me back, she says I always start out too fast and get tired before the end, but it was so exciting, I just wanted to GO! I saw my dad videoing us as we ran by too. It had rained on Friday night and my mom had said it would be "a muddy mess out there", I didn't realize that meant it would be SUPER FUN! Once we got off the road and onto the trail it was really muddy and there were huge puddles, some of them were really deep, up to my tummy (I bet some of the little dogs had to swim!). I had so much fun sloshing and splashing through the puddles, especially after my mom finally got her shoes wet and stopped trying to find the dry spots.

RUNNING! Photo by Tom Marek

We got to the first water stop and my mom made me stop and tried to make me drink out of a bowl of water, I think lots of other dogs had been drinking that water, so I just stood and waited until she offered me her cup of water and I drank that. Then we got to run again! There were 3 water stops and we had to stop at all of them even though I didn't want to, my mom said I had to drink water but I really just wanted to keep running! We ran with Banjo the whole time, and after the 2nd water stop we found Carly too. After the 2nd water stop I started to get a little tired, maybe my mom's right maybe I do start out too fast. She slowed down and we walked for a couple minutes. Then by the 3rd water stop I was ready to run again! We saw a dog being pushed in a stroller, it didn't look like much fun to me, but maybe Connor can ride in a wagon or stroller and do the race next year. When we came out of the woods we saw my dad and Tom Marek (Carly's dad). We stopped to say hi, and then ran to the finish line! Logan announced "Heather Herrick running with Katie" and the people at the finish line congratulated us. That was SO MUCH FUN!!!

High Fives at the finish! Photo by Ed Sparks

My mom saying "Congratulations on your race Katie" Photo by Ed Sparks

Me and Banjo after the race. Photo by Tom Marek

Getting a drink. Photo by Ed Sparks

My mom gave me lots of water after the finish, I didn't really want to stop and get a drink during the race (even though she forced me to stop), but I was thirsty after we finished. Then Jack found us and we had to follow him back to the start, there was a second race! Jack asked if we could lead out the 1 mile race and my parents said yes! Jack and Logan dedicated the race to me and told the people I have cancer but I still feel good and I'm making the most of my life! My parents seemed really happy and touched by the things that Jack & Logan said. They took lots of pictures of us too.Then it was time to start running again- yay! Logan counted down and yelled GO! And this time my dad ran with us too! But we only ran a little way and then stopped, my parents said I couldn't run a whole mile more- I think I could have! (but I was a tiny bit sore on Sunday, so maybe they were right).

A picture of our picture being taken at the 1 mile start

Then we watched the police dog demonstrations, actually I couldn't see that, the fence was too high, but I could hear and those dogs sounded serious! Then there was a frisbee demonstration, I LOVE to play frisbee, so when I saw that I tried to run over the fence and go catch a frisbee, but my mom bear hugged me and stopped me, she said I'd ruin the demonstration. I don't know how I'd ruin the demonstration, I was just going to catch the frisbee like the other dogs! I barked to try and tell her that and instead of letting me in the demo ring, they took me far away so I couldn't see the frisbees anymore. When that was all over, we went back to the main area and a nice lady gave me a new frisbee and I finally got to play with that one!

Tom took a picture of me catching my new frisbee. Photo by Tom Marek

We hung out with Carly for the awards ceremony. Carly and Carolyn even got an award. My mom & I got the very last award, we were the top fundraisers for the Petco Foundation and Austin Pets Alive! That made me really, really happy! They gave us so much stuff that my mom could barely carry it all! It's lots of treats and toys and stuff for my mom and coupons for even more stuff. She says we're going to give some of it away on my Facebook page. I decided to give the best toy to Connor so he wouldn't feel left out.

Photo by Tom Marek

Top Fundraisers Photo by Ed Sparks

I really hope my mom lets me race again, the entire day was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Thank you to Jack Murray of High Five Events and Hong Van Le of  the Petco 5K9 Walk Run series (and everyone else at High Five and 5K9). I haven't been to a lot of races, but my mom has and she said this was really well done, with a great expo and some very cool demonstrations.

And Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the Petco Foundation and Austin Pets Alive! for us, being the top fundraisers was pretty cool and obviously we couldn't have done that without all of you!