Pet Express Doggie Run 2012 – Results and Photos

where can i find the results??

My brother’s personal account as it appears on Facebook:

The other day my niece Rica Melissa, invited me to run with her dog, Doug in the dog run in MOA as she will be in Cebu. I said, Challenge accepted.

So that this morning I got up at 2:30 am. Prepared my running gear. Woke up my sleep groggy kids Betina, Nonot and Raymond. My wife Annie and other daughter, Ading, have recognition activity today so they passed and got back to sleep.

Drove off at 3…:30 am. Picked up Mng Mel and Doug at 4 and we all drove off to Mall of Asia via c5. Arrived there at 5 am.

The booths are just being set up and the owners and their dogs trickle in. Betina is clicking away in the pre dawn lights while my two boys roam around ogling the many different dogs around. Toy breeds, Show breeds, Work dogs, Attack dogs, Large breeds, Asian, etc.

Mng Mel moves off to register us. When she comes back she tells me that it’s unfortunate that the registration for dogs has already closed. Only human slots are available so I got registered as one in the 5K run. Doug is a fun runner and not an official bib-wearing race participant. Also, he won;t be getting any loot bag after the race. But they give him a running scarf just the same. Okey lang. I do my warm ups and I brig Doug along. He is relaxed and isn’t at all bothered by all the others. Some come to sniff at him, others bark, others merely stare. Doug is aloof and is regal.

Then time comes for us to assemble at the starting chute. Only a handful are in this first wave and the barker/ emcee briefs us on the rules, etc. I am irked that some turn a deaf ear to his call for owners to pick up after their pets’ poop as some are laying where they fell off.

After the preliminaries we are signalled to be on our marks, get set and the horn sounds and the handful of 5K ers go for it. I start to jog with the crowd but after about 10 meters I feel the leash getting heavy and I look down at Doug. He is straining against it. He wants to stop. So I oblige. He sits and gives a raspy cough. He looks back at the starting line and stands to get back there. I restrain him and point him to follow the rest of the 5K group already fading in the distance. Doug does a brisk walk but stops and coughs and looks back at the starting area once more. He is uncertain.

We make a series of starts and stops and I observed that we are now in dead last place in the 5K group.

Then the lead 3K group comes skittering past us with owners panting like their dogs and dogs running like their owners.

And then the crowd becomes thicker when the 1.5Kers pass us. Al sorts of dogs run, walk, slobber, slather, gurgle, wheeze with us. All the while Doug and I start and stop. I have a mind to carry him and run all the way but I didn’t to rattle the living daylights out of poor Doug so we plod on.

I decide to make the u turn at the 1.5 marker so we can go back home. Bye bye 5K.

Doug senses that we are going back to where we came form so his steps becomes brisk and he starts to pull at me. He knows we are going back!

All this time I am busy admiring this rare occassion. I am amidst a sea of humans and digs and the bonds they share. My smile is plastered onto my face because I am amused no end by the sights.

I see a fat Beagle plodding on with his boss who looks like him. A toy poodle decides to sit down and owner is pleading with her to get up. An obese Rott is struggling to walk and proceeds to lubricate the road with his free flowing saliva. I spot an owner carrying her dog while pushing a stroller. Hey, a baby, I think to myself. But when they walk past I see that seated in the stroller is an askal without its two front paws!

A sexy runner towing along a mean looking Belgian Malinois. A mean looking guy with a very cute Yorkshire terrier. Oh, it’s my reflection in the glass window of a store!

And so I have to say in the midst of this race where man and dog are bonded I realize that this is love incarnate. Those of us with dogs and pets know what I mean.

It means we become more human the more we love our non human pets. And this getting out of oneself and being with the other, isn’t this the essence of loving? So that early in the morning, running , rather, walking and stopping with Doug along the baywalk of MOA I am thankful that I got invited to run and so witness this wonderful event of loving in a dog run.

And I am doubly thankful that I am with Mng Mel and my kids. Especially as we have a hearty breakfast after the run.

Ah, who could ever deny that Doug is man’s best friend? And to be the best human I could be to him, too.

Challenge accepted.