Doggie Dash

Saturday was the 24th Annual Doggie Dash. It's a race/walk to raise money for the Oregon Humane Society. The company I work for was sponsoring and had free entries, so I decided to do the 2.5 mile bridge to bridge walk.

Both mom and Derek agreed to join me, along with mom's dog, Pepper. We would have taken my dog, Rikki, but her shots aren't up to date, so she had to stay home. Next year, she'll get to go for sure.

I was a little worried how the weather would be. The last couple weeks the weather has gone from sunny one day to pouring down rain the next. Friday was beautiful, so I figured Saturday it would be pouring, but no, it was perfect. Partly cloudy, no rain, no wind. We couldn't have asked for better weather for our walk.

We got to the waterfront, got registered and I was overwhelmed by all the dogs. They came in every shape, size and color, from the tiniest tea cup chihuahua to the biggest Irish wolfhound. It was the coolest thing!

Everyone was so nice and friendly and dogs were all getting along for the most part. It was weird how little barking there was. You'd think with that many people/dogs in one place it would be really loud, but wasn't any different than any other festival on the waterfront.

We started our walk between SW Stark and Pine and went up and over the Hawthorne Bridge, along the Eastbank Esplanade, across the Steel Bridge and then back to the waterfront. It was really fun walking across the bridges, the views were great. 2.5 miles on concrete is a rough walk, but I did better than I thought I would. I was breaking in my new walking shoes and my feet and legs felt pretty good afterwards.

All in all, it was a really awesome day and such a great, fun experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat!