It's been 5 years since
our first Pet Express Run (shared it way back in 2011). I'm quite glad that I have an entry of our first one because time really flies by so fast and I didn't realize it was 5 years already. Joining
Pet Express Run 2016 was actually the family's idea.
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| Starting Line |
I was kind of surprised that they initiated it because my family does not run at all. They don't even wake up early. But since they wanted to, of course I'm all in for it. We registered 3 dog Kits and 2 extra human kits.
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| Moral Support? |
At home, we have more dogs than humans. Too bad we couldn't bring all 7 Chinese Sharpeis. We brought
Kiwi (running 1.5k with me),
Mochi (running 3k with my brother) and
Siopao (running 1.5k with my sister). My mom was also registered at 1.5k. And, my other sister who was registered just to take our photo ran 3k.
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| Kiwi taking a U-Turn |
I guess each of our dogs chose the masters and
Kiwi and I are super close. She's 8 years old and she's been obedient and loyal towards me since we got her. She's very smart. She can do tons of tricks: shake hands, wave, high five, down, crawl, come, stay, lay down, play dead, roll over, come in, go home, dance, and wiggle.
Kiwi is almost 8 years old but she's still very active. Since Kiwi is a very good girl, she always watched my pace and never go ahead of me. But, today was very special because I told her to go and run as freely and happily as she wanted. She was so competitive! Since the idea of the family was spontaneous, I was the one who isn't fit and can't keep up. =(
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| Kiwi wondering what's the hold up |
At the U-Turn slot, there's a water station but the water distribution couldn't keep up with the number of dog owners. It took awhile before I got a cup of water for
Kiwi.
But turns out, she wasn't thirsty. She just wanted to go and keep up with all the other dogs.
I think I was way ahead of the family. A lot of people weren't there to run but to leisurely stroll along with their dogs and the family was among them.
As we were near the finish line, we spotted the family.
After we passed the finish line, there were already so many dog owners there.
We couldn't resist taking a quick snap.
A lot of people where getting their selfies. But there's a Marshall there to clear the way.
We almost missed the medal because of the crowd. And, Kiwi got her very first finisher medal. Yey! I bet she'd want to show it off to
Lychee because she was smelling
Lychee's medal way back in 2011.
She got some pat too.
Glad they thought of including a shower. They didn't have that before. I didn't let
Kiwi shower because I thought the family car might get wet. Then I found out
Mochi had a shower.
Got some water for
Kiwi but she didn't want them again. So I got her 1.5k loot bag and my human treats given in plastic bags. When we got home, I compared all our loot bags and noticed that the 3k loot bag has a bonus small sack of dog food and dog frame.
A lot of people were lining for freebies so we lined up to see what they're getting.
Frontline gave some umbrella at first but ran out and became calendars.
Bayer gave some magic towel and fan. At first, holistic recipe gave ecobags which ran out and became caps. The ecobags were really useful because the loot bag and human treats were given only in plastic bags.
We opted not to line up for the rest. Our bibs also had a tab for souvenir photo but there were only 2 booths for all the runners. The queue was so long.
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| Kiwi lining up for us |
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| Kiwi wanted to ride the stroller too |
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| Kiwi getting acquainted |
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| The family with Mochi, Kiwi and Siopao (censored for privacy) |
The family didn't have the patience to line up for the freebies. They were still sleepy so we were about to go after our dogs got enough rest. We didn't intend to wait for the raffle when suddenly my little sister got called as she won an
Aquazorb from
Frontline.
What Improved
In comparison to the
Pet Express 2011 (their very first run), they've implemented a lot of improvements.
1. Better singlet and bandana - The material and design is better and didn't increase the registration price.
2. Doggie shower - Dogs loved this!
3. More sponsors and booths - There is noticeably more sponsors and booths now.
4. Human treats - Cool that humans have treats too!
What Could to Be Improved
1. Parking - The parking slots near the starting line were all reserved only for the event organizers. There was no sign or designation on where participants should park. We were actually late finding a parking slot and walking our dogs from the parking slot to the starting point.
2. Loot bags - I'd prefer it like in the 2011 where all the loots are already placed in an ecobag so you don't need to claim an ecobag and then transfer your loot there.
3. Raffle needs to speed up - By the time the raffle was called out, the crowd has already dispersed. I guess the raffle was quick before because they only had 1 big raffle prize (
we won a PS3 before). Now there were multiple prizes from the sponsors like a Christmas raffle, it took longer so they could speed it up a bit as many already got home.
4. Lack of Photographers - With a lot of runners both humans and dogs, Strider-My Run Time could have allocated more photographers. As I've checked, they only had a total of 546 shots. With some runners having two shots...
Overall, the
Pet Express Doggie Run 2016 is a huge success because surely there's non other like it. It's always fun to run with a companion and as they say, a dog is a man's best friend. The family had so much fun! They want to join again!
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