Last Minute Details

The Fast and the Furballs' first 5K-9 is this Sunday @ 8 AM @ The Depot in Downtown Minneapolis! Here are some of the last minute details you'll need to know.

5K-9 packet pick-up
You can pick up your race packets (t-shirt, flyers, race #, etc) Friday from 11 AM to 4 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 6PM and Sunday starting at 6 AM at The Depot in Minneapolis. If you don't want to run/walk with your goodies or don't have someone to hang on to them during the event, be sure to pick-up your packet early.

Fast and the Furballs participant t-shirts
You can pick up your t-shirt on Saturday, May 30th at the Pet Haven adoption event at the Richfield Petco between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM. If you can't make it to the adoption event on Saturday, please send your t-shirt size to Cheryl @ furballs@pethavenmn.org and your t-shirt will be available on race day.

The 5K-9!
The Fast and the Furballs team will meet near the Stunt Puppy exhibit booth between 7:00 AM and 7:45 AM on Sunday morning. Just look for the flashy Fast and the Furballs orange t-shirts. We'll head to the starting line at 7:45 AM for the 8 AM start. Team Ortho has parking information posted on their site @ http://teamortho.us/Minneapolis_Marathon_Parking. The Depot address is:
The Depot
225 Third Avenue South
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401

The Minneapolis Marathon and Half Marathon begin at 7:00 AM - there will be lots of activity starting early in the day, so you shouldn't have a problem finding it once you get close. Also be sure to plan ahead for parking, crowds, etc - there are 1400 participating in the marathon and 2500 in the half marathon, plus the 5K and 5K-9 participants. Car pooling and arriving early are strongly encouraged.

See everyone on Sunday!

Racing to the finish!

Mister (co-captain of Pet Haven's the Fast and the Furballs team) and I decided we needed to get moving on our training. Granted it's not Mister's fault as I've been the slug and have not take him on enough runs. Early yesterday morning Mister said enough is enough, so we set our alarm and met others at the Furballs training run/walk at 8 am yesterday morning. Mister had a chance to loosen up his muscles at the Lake of the Isles dog park before the training run/walk began. He got knocked over a couple times by the big dogs but that certainly didn't stop him. Bjorn (another furballs dog in training) was there to warm up as well. Mister was very excited to wear his bright orange furballs in training bandana! He thinks bright orange makes him look very dapper against his smooth, shiny black coat! :)

We took off for our run a little after 8 am and ran one lap around lake of the isles. Mister does NOT ... i repeat ... does NOT like to be #2. Bjorn took the lead for the first part of the run and Mister just about took my arm off. Fortunately, Bjorn had to take a potty break so that gave us our chance to take the lead. Once we were in the lead, Mister went back to being a perfect running buddy. Then, on the last stretch Bjorn came sneaking up from behind us, my shoelace came untied so we had to stop (much to Mister's dismay!) and Bjorn and his running buddy finished first! Mister gave it his all though, and since i've been somewhat of slug lately, I was huffing and puffing too!

I forgot to bring my camera to the training run so I took photos of Mister when we got home. As you can tell, he was pretty tired after the big workout!

There's still time to join Pet Haven's Fast and Furballs team! Email Cheryl at furballs@pethavenmn.org for more info.

And, of course, please consider making a donation to any one of us running in the team. Visit our Firstgiving site to make a donation!

Group Run/Walk Sunday, May 17th

Join us Sunday, May 17th at 8:00 AM for a Fast and the Furballs group run at Lake of the Isles. Meet at the Lake of the Isles dog park: 2845 E. Lake of the Isles Parkway Minneapolis, MN 55405 (http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=388). We'll start walking/running around Lake of the Isles promptly at 8:00 (don't be late, you might have to run to catch up!). You won't be able to miss our bright orange t-shirts! Hope to see you there!

Many thanks to our t-shirt and bandana sponsors: Chuck and Don's and Downtown Dogs!