Flying Pig Flying Fur Run
Saturday May 6, 2017 1:30pm
Running a race with Shadow has been on my bucket list for awhile now. As he gets older (turning ten in a couple of months), I know running is going to be harder and harder for him. He struggles with his legs after a big ball throwing session in the backyard and sometimes after runs with me. At Easter, he tweaked his leg and limped around for a couple weeks. I waited to register us for the Flying Fur Run until I knew his leg was better. Luckily, he was back to normal in time for the fun. I only registered us a few days before the run. No name on our bibs as we did the late registration. I was beyond excited to pick up our bibs at The Flying Pig Expo!
It was official. We had another racer in the Priem house!
We decided to all run the Flying Fur Run together. With our registration, we each received a Flying Fur t-shirt and a collapsible water bowl. Is it bad that I thought the bowls would be awesome snack bowls to travel with for the boys?!?
My husband would run with Shadow so I could push C in the stroller. Nman was going to have to run his longest race to date and try to make it two miles. His Peeps run in March was only about a quarter mile. He was pumped to be racing downtown again!
This silly guy was along for the ride.
A full family vehicle with a running stroller in the back meant Mommy got to ride sandwiched between the two youngsters. Meanwhile, the main man for the day got to ride shotgun.
This crew was ready for a dog loving afternoon.
I have no clue how many dogs Shadow sniffed downtown. There were TONS of dogs everywhere. There were doggies dressed up as flying pigs. The boys spotted a St. Bernard…”Beethoven”!!!! That definitely made their day. We even saw an older dog being pulled in a wagon. Shadow must have been trying to get some last minute superpowers from this particular dog.
I believe Shadow was thinking, “Hey Guys, when do I get to go to Bark in the Park again?”
While we waited in front of Great American Ballpark (Go Reds), the DJ played some jamming doggy music. Really, all the songs played were dog themed. Super cute!
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Shadow’s tongue was already hanging out before the run even began. The walk from the parking garage and seeing lots of doggies had him panting.
Two boys who LOVE to run!
My favorite running buddy.
The two man team.
Ready to roll!
We moved over toward the gates at Great American Ballpark to give Shadow a little more space to move around. There were a few dogs over our way, but it was not as overwhelming for him. He was actually able to sit down for a little bit.
Okay, one more with my favorite four legged guy!
We made our way to the starting line.
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Since we had a stroller with us, we were instructed to start toward the back. (I had asked about this before I registered us all). There is no way C is ready to run one mile, let alone two. A stroller was mandatory for us all to participate. So, we started at the back. We quickly realized that the dogs who RUN this race are all at the front! There are a lot of people who walk their dogs on this Flying Pig Run. We took off at the start to “Who Let the Dogs Out” playing through the speakers. We did some bobbing and weaving and made our way the best that we could through the other dogs and owners. The five of us had to be quite the site.
N made it about half a mile into the run and then we hit the bridge to Kentucky. He had to stop and walk. In his words, “This bridge hill is too steep”. I laughed and said, “You should see the hill I get to run tomorrow”. From that point on we would run a little bit and then walk a little bit. We stopped for a water break about halfway through. Shadow even took a water break over in Kentucky where the Flying Pig had a well prepared water stop for both humans and dogs. The course had several doggy water stops, but Shadow was too busy trying to get his little brother to run more!
We ran some more until we came to the bridge coming back to Ohio. At the incline, we immediately slowed to a walk. Once we hit the bridge’s halfway point, we took off. Shadow was still doing great! He was ready to run faster! We told N he had to run the rest of the way. We could hear the party music now. I grabbed N’s hand and we were not going to stop until we crossed that finish line!
I was so proud of Shadow for completing his first race. I am really glad we decided to treat him to this adventure. I know he loved it!
I am proud of the rest of this finishing crew, too!
Shadow proudly wore his Flying Fur medal post race. Each runner and their dog received a fantastic medal.
When we got inside the tunnel, he hit up one of the doggy water stations and then plopped down. I thought to myself, “That is exactly what I am going to want to do tomorrow in this exact spot”.
We walked back to the parking garage where Shadow laid down the minute we got inside. We had to encourage him to walk the extra 40 feet to the car so we could drive home. We had one tired pup riding shotgun this time. He rested and slept the rest of the day. We would look around and ask each other where Shadow was. Then, we would realize that he was still in the bedroom napping. He was definitely WORE OUT!!!
My watch tracked 1.9 miles. The time reflects all of those walking breaks and water stops. Maybe next year we will do a little more training with the kiddo and see if Shadow can RUN it!
Flying Pig Flying Fur Run 2017 was in the books.
Check out the stellar bling we all earned.
Double sided medals even for the Flying Fur Run! Thank you, Iams!
It was another great race put on by The Flying Pig Committee. It was well run and a lot of fun! If the old man’s legs are capable of running two miles come next May, you can expect to see the Priems at the 2018 Flying Fur Run!
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