And we were off- LITERALLY!

uly 19, 2015-

The TRUE DOG DAYS of SUMMER

Scout and Pam at the 2015 NYC AMC Doggy Dash

Skyler and Pam at the 2009 NYC IAMS Doggy Dash

On the hot and humid summer morning of July 19, 2015, Scout and Pam took to the streets of Central Park for the AMC NYC Doggy Dash. The temperature was over 90 degrees, but Scout took off to follow the other dogs ahead of him. Alright here’s the first lesson Pam learned, ya ready??!?!?......Pam learned to test her buckle on her leash so that Scout doesn’t get away. Within the first ½ mile Scout was truly off and running sans Pam. He ran over to the bushes along the side of the road as we made a sharp right off of the 72^nd Transverse. Pam followed him and found he had broke into someone’s home. He ran passed him and said hello and up through the bushes, then came back to have a little breakfast with him. Yes, he found a homeless person before coming back to Pam and continuing on. (This made Pam think the rest of the day! I mean who was this, why was he homeless, was it by choice or was it something brought on by circumstances…..and how could those mor fortunate help him? Would buying him one meal truly be helping him or would it hurt him further, how could she help him, her money was locked up tight in the truck. Maybe we will go back and offer him a bagel or something this coming week…..we shall see…..We obviously know where he lives! To quote a card Pam received from Eliana Themistocleous…..”Thanks again, and may your kindness and good deeds always come back to you.” Scout and Pam wish this for our homeless friend whether we get back to the city or something good to come his way! I have to mention we ran with heavy hearts, as we were not alone but our hearts filled with my late girlfriend Skyler, who ran this race in 2009 and 2010.

Scout and Dukey running together

Just a note, Pam thinks that Scout was just trying to keep up with the dachshund, Cooper that was running because he thought it was Dukey- our fellow GLIRC runner! Since he couldn’t catch him he scouted out a new friend and some chow!

 

Ok, so moving right along Scout and Pam continued to the halfway point. Which was at the very top of Central Park. Staying close to one another having Pam keep Scout either directly in front of her or close to her left side to respect the other athletes and their space. When we got to the 2.5 mile point, Scout had his own volunteer who made sure he had his paws checked and temp taken (Scout did NOT like this, then again what dog would like something poked up his bum?!?!?!?) The volunteers were awesome and brought Scout and Pam water and really took care of them. We met a familiar face at the checkpoint, Robert Barnes from GLIRC. It was really nice to see him there!

After a cooling 5 minute rest break, Scout and Pam continued to the end! We ran down the east side of the park back to the 72^nd Transverse and around the dirt loop (we really wish the whole course was dirt BUT we managed just find!) We ran through the finishing chutes together staying to one side, really close to one another, with everyone cheering “Go Scout Go!” as Pam wore the racing bib with my name on it! HA!

We were honored to share the last 5.25 miles of the NYC TRI course with such athletes as Dr. Robert Monaco, DVM, his son Michael Monaco, and Ira Kaplan.

The GLIRC NYC Tri guys!

We crossed the finish line, got our medals and were escorted by the volunteers to the Doggy Recovery Area to have Scout’s paws checked again, and one last temp taken…..I REALLY didn’t like this so even though my temp was a little high, the wonderful veternarians there let him cool off in the ice bath and all without retaking my temp and rise getting bitten. I was ready to run off if they tried that again or possibly hurt them unknowingly!

On the way home, we came across an accident on the LIE, and so many emergency vehicles, as we were a mile from home following an emergency vehicle Pam had mentioned  to me I hope they aren’t going to our road. When we got to our driveway, we saw the police, ambulance, and fire dept across the street. And they took our neighbor to the hospital! We hope he is okay.

What a day I’ve had……I had a blast and felt really in control while repecting other athletes on the course! I highly recommend the NYC AMC Doggy Dash for all my fellow canine athletes.

Here I am crossing the finish line:
 

 

Oh yeah and it took three well bodied vets to take my temperature at the end!

 

 

After my temperature was taken, uugghh.....I jumped on into the ice bath to cool my body down fast so that I didn't have to go through that again!

 

 

Ok, I'm going to go to sleep now I'll catch up with you another day, it's been an adventure though,

Have a happy tail waggin' week ahead,

Scout