Seattle Animal Shelter Furry 5k, 6/10/12, Seattle, Washington

What a race!

The Furry 5k is listed in Running with Dogs as the only competitive dog-friendly race in the United States. Yes and yes. Competition was fierce, and dog friendly would be an understatement. 

The race is held yearly in Seattle's Seward Park as a fundraiser for the Seattle Animal Shelter. 

5/6 of our feet are off the ground!

Cricket, more interested in seeing Elliot than finishing the race

The race has a fairly substantial hill... eeps. Cricket did her best, but there was still a one minute difference between our first mile (almost completely flat, 6:32) and our second mile (with the big hill, 7:28). There was a water station halfway, and Cricket desperately wanted to stop... but I was a terrible running buddy and made her press on-- I knew we had a shot! (In fairness, she would have just gotten a sideache and regretted it, anyway.) 

At the end, Elliot had walked along the sidelines to before the finish line to cheer us on-- and Cricket thought this meant the race was over! Elliot had to run the direction Cricket and I were running to convince her that the race wasn't over. 

We crossed the finish line, 22:12, and a race official handed me a piece of paper that said "please attend our awards ceremony..." I hugged him. Somewhere there is a picture of that; if I can find it I'll post it. I was 3rd in my age group, 3rd in my gender (with dog), and 25th overall. 

Always eager to nibble a friendly hand!
Clearly nobody ever told her to not bite the hand
that gives you medals.

At the awards ceremony, we were both awarded medals for being the third place female team with a dog! (Furry 5k does awards in kind of an awesome way, for race directors reading this: top 3 in each gender, with and without a dog. I think it was initially intended to make it so that people who had to hassle with a dog could still get an award, but it seems to actually work out so that people without a dog still have a chance at getting an award.) 

A very fun race-- definitely my favorite dog-friendly race. Afterwards, there were tons of dog-friendly booths with samples, including doggie frozen yogurt! Cricket enjoyed it. 


The Furry 5k happens every June-- we did it in 2013 as well-- so if you're in search of a fun race that gives its proceeds to a great cause, check out the Furry 5k. Well worth the trek to Seattle! 

Family photo! Elliot was 3rd overall, possibly 1st without a dog. The online results don't say. His time was 18:34.