23 Going On 60: Mutt Strut 2009 Part 1

On Memorial Day morning, Chad and I took Emma out to Keeneland for the 2009 Mutt Strutt, a 2k walk to benefit the Lexington Humane Society. We arrived at 8:45am for the 9:00am start. As soon as we got out of the car, it began pouring. We armed ourselves with umbrellas and made our way to the starting area. There were tons of dogs, I'm guessing 75-100, and I don't think Emma really knew what to do. She sniffed the other dogs and made friends - she didn't get aggressive with anyone and no one got aggressive with her. I was a little worried that she would be aggressive, because she can be pretty dominant at times! Especially with small dogs...and small children. But luckily, every thing worked out ok!

After about 2 minutes in the rain, Emma's underbelly was completely soaked, but she didn't seem to mind. She waded through huge puddles and walked through grass and mud. We waited at the starting area for about 15 minutes, and then the walk began. Emma made the rookie mistake of going out too fast, but I think she was swept up in the adrenaline of the large crowd of people and dogs moving swiftly in one direction. She kept to the right, in the grass and mud, and really booked it. We were walking briskly, trying to get her to slow down because we knew she wouldn't make it the whole way at that pace! But she kept on charging through. It stopped raining right before the start so that was really nice - but the conditions were definitely muddy.
I only had to carry Emma for a short spell near the end - she was walking on a little ledge and started teeter-tottering, so we thought it best to carry her for a little bit. She proudly walked across the finish line in 27:45! Here are some pictures from the day - I will post the rest of the pictures in a "part 2" post tomorrow!