Valentine 5K

What could be more fun on a cold Saturday morning (-6° at the race start) than a fast 5K around one of Minneapolis's most beautiful lakes? Why, standing around with Dottie and Cola and handing out Run and Romp brochures to the runners as they walked through the food line at the end of the race, of course. You might say we caught them at their weakest moment.

Seriously, it was a beautiful day for the race. Bright sun, not too much wind and a route that was fast, flat and dry. As races go, it had the usual cast of characters including one chucklehead who ran in bare legs. When the race announcer declared him the winner in the shorts division with a time of 17:02 - one spectator was heard to comment that "he might have finished in 16:02 if he would have had the sense to wear pants". Despite the cold, the fastest time was in the low 15's, not bad considering the air at that temp can feel like icicles spearing the lungs.

Judging by the fact that we had just a few brochures left when Dottie and I decided Belle and Cola had had enough of the cold, I'd say there were a lot of dog lovers that ran the race. Or maybe it was just the fact that Belle was so willing to sit on their feet while we discussed the race. One racer stopped to tell us she even had a Helping Paws dog - Koda - as her regular running partner on her training runs (along with Koda's foster mom, Lynn). It seems Lynn will have a support group when Koda graduates - the runner told me how much she will miss Koda on their runs together.

We made many promises that the weather at this year's Run and Romp would be much warmer this year. I hope the weather gods don't get their undies in a bunch over our predictions and rain on the parade.