Arriving early at the San Leandro Marina, we registered and then took care of "business," twice in Nicky's case, which as you know from previous Dog Run reports is rather an important item! I warmed up while Debi held Nicky, then preceded to panic when five minutes before the start, she was nowhere to be seen! But the crisis passed, and Nicky and I took our place in the front row. Nicky was more excited than usual, which is hard to believe, so I held him up until 45 seconds before the start, and then unleashed (not literally!) secret weapon #1: Nicky's non-stop, vigorous twirling in place produced gales of laughter from the front row ("hey, look at that silly dog"), distracting them from the impending start of the race. They naturally assumed that he was expending precious energy, when the truth was that he was just warming up!
The race started in a pell-mell (or higgeldy-piggeldy, if you prefer) dash, like most Dog Runs. The man next to us nearly went down in a tangle with Nicky just 10 feet from the start, but good reactions and a well-placed hand on the hip averted disaster.
In another fifty feet, out came secret weapon #2. The course made a hard right turn at that point, from the road on which it started onto the path around the San Leandro Marina which makes up most of the course. But I had previewed the course, and noted that the placement of cones made cutting a severe tangent across the grass on the corner completely legal, so Nick and I took the shortest path while many in the race stayed on the pavement. When we hit the path, we were in second place! Brief, unrealistic thoughts of actually leading a race for the first time in my life entered my head, but they were soon dissipated as two more dogs ran by, putting us in fourth.
From that point it was just "go like hell" until the finish. Four more dogs got by us, but we got back by one of them right away. Many of the teams in front of us were clearly not as practiced as Nicky and I, with leashes tangling, stumbling over dogs, etc., so we kept hoping for something to happen (including an insufficiently-walked dog stopping to take care of business), but it wasn't to be. I vaguely remember some people saying things like "look at that cute dog!" (well, naturally!) but really, in a race that intense, it's hard to notice anything other than the sound of your breathing and your chest pounding. I DO remember my glasses starting to fall apart (nose piece popping loose, prescription insert starting to fall out) and trying to hold it all together with my left hand (right hand is holding a leash, remember), then we passed someone going around the final turn, as Nicky let loose with a ferocious finishing kick down the last 100 yards of grass, and we crossed the line in sixth place, but first small dog!
Our time was 9:39 for a race described several times by the announcer as "one and three-quarters miles," but which surely was not (that would be a 5:30 pace, and I run quarters at 6:00 pace, halves at 6:15 or so; no way I can run 5:30 for 1.75 miles).
Some time later, here comes Debi with Fergus, a new Welsh Terrier who we had become foster parents of two nights before, when his owner decided they couldn't take care of him any more. Poor Jody was in that state of being unusually attractive to males and had to miss her second straight race, so Debi decided to run with Fergus, and she was glad she did! Even with no practice whatsoever he was a lot better runner than Jody the hunter.
So - last week in Los Gatos we were fifth, they awarded prizes two deep in each division, and we were shut out. This week in Oakland we were sixth, they only awarded one prize per division, but we medalled. Go figure! Of course, the real source of the victory is the fact that Oakland (bless their souls!) correctly calls Nicky a small dog, while Los Gatos and Palo Alto call him a medium dog. This was our third consecutive victory, but NOT the third consecutive year. Last year the race was cancelled when, a few days before the race, some bright parks people sprayed squirrel poison over the entire park! The SPCA had to call up everyone registered in the race and let them know it was cancelled. I'm sure they were pleased!
One more observation. Although I was wearing my DRS singlet, I got no comments on it whatsoever. "Carpe viam" simply cannot compete with a Welsh Terrier on the end of a leash as an attention getter!
A friend of mine from New Jersey called the other night soliciting donations for our high school. He's a runner, so we chatted about running. When I mentioned that I had just done one dog run last week, and was about to do another, he said "Only in California!" To which I say, "Viva California!"
Steve "the one in back" Patt 8) 8) 8) <-Smiling broadly!
and Nicky "the flying Welshman" \__D
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