I Walked. . . I Wagged. . . AND I Raised Money For Pet Adoptions!!!

Saturday was THE DAY - the day of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley's Walk N' Wag. We had worked hard to raise money and now we needed to MAKE GOOD on our promise to walk.

I was ready at the CRACK OF DAWN - here I am dressed in my HSSV bandana and Power Paws socks to protect my front paws.

Saturday was the epitome of a perfect CALIFORNIA day. It was cool in the morning - sweatshirt cool, as my Mommy would say - but beautifully sunny with no clouds at all. As the morning warmed up, there would be a breeze which kept the temps tolerable even for a PUG. Perfect day for a 3.5 mile walk.

We all piled into the CAR and drove to Hellyer Park in S. San Jose where the event was held. We pass this park all the time on our way to Auntie D's house; but this was the first time we ever stopped. It is a very nice park nestled in the hills around Hwy 101. Like everywhere in NorCal it is very dry right now and the little lake and Coyote Creek are all dried up. Nonetheless, it is still a pretty place.

We parked and headed over to the CHECK IN booth. We were a little early so we roamed around and chatted up the volunteers (many of who would remember my name wave to me as they saw me throughout the morning). I didn't see any PUGS, I have to say, but there were a lot of BIG DOGS and then smaller ones like Molly.

We checked in here. NOTE my muddy socks.

Mommy said she couldn't tell it was muddy but look at my socks!

This was at 8 am. By the time the race started there were
easily triple this number of people.

Note: I no longer have my socks on as they were so wet.

I don't know your name stranger but HI. . . or should I say
BUTT hi?

I am SOOOO ready for this.

Since my socks were embarrassingly muddy and falling off (which Power Paws normally do NOT do), we decided to go visit Ms. Lorraine from Woodrow Wear (the makers of Power Paws) about a new pair of socks for the walk.

 We loves loves loves visiting Ms. Lorraine because she is so nice. She knows how to pet me and talks nice to me.

And she ALWAYS has the BEST treats. And she ALWAYS makes sure I have one, two, three of them!!!

She and Mommy talked a bit about the business and the Walk N' Wag event. Ms. Lorraine does a lot of pet related things.

So then we GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS of new socks. I wasn't sure what to choose as she has so
 many styles to choose from. Since this is October and BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH, I chose some wonderful PINK POWER PAWS to power my walk. I think it was the perfect choice. Don't you?

It was PHOTO OP time so I did my best posing and smiling.

It was time to let Ms. Lorraine get back to BUSINESS so we gave huggies and bid farewell. We visited some other vendors all of whom had TREATS for dogs AND humans. It was one of the few times Mommy let me eat more than ONE TREAT. I guess she figured I would be walking the calories off. Mommy spinned a wheel and won a shopping bag (she is a regular BAG LADY cuz she LOVES to get shopping bags). Aunt B won movie tickets!!! Lucky them. It was a small vendor area but plenty to keep us busy.

We still had a lot of time before the RACE was to begin. The RACE was a 5K RUN and Cousin E and her BF were running in it. They came in FIRST PLACE for their age group! That is awesome. Cousin E runs very very fast. She used to be on the crosscountry team at her high school.


We worked the crowd a bit more and LO AND BEHOLD. . . there was ANOTHER PUG! Her name is Emma and she is 10 years old. She was going to walk too, apparently. I was elated as up until then we had seen five or six Bulldogs, about 3 Frenchies, one or two Shih Tzus, and maybe 2 Bostons. That was it for the FLAT FACED group. There were so many HUGE DOGS, even a Great Dane that stood almost as tall as Mommy who isn't THAT tall but tall enough for me to know that DOG was BIG!

Anyhow, it was nice that Emma's folks came across the yard to greet us because, like us, they had not seen another PUG anywhere.

It was now about 5 minutes to the start of the 5K walk so we headed over to the START LINE.

ON YOUR MARK (yes, my beautiful pink

socks got muddy as well BUT they stayed 

on.)

The walk began!!! I was determined to do the whole 5K even though walking that much is not my thing. Lucky for me I have lost the TWO POUNDS the dogter wanted me to lose so walking is a lot less difficult for me. I managed the first mile with hardly any hard breathing at all.

From there though it got tough! It was a little UP HILL and the asphalt path was heating up some. I was able to stay in the shade a lot of time time . . . but I was getting winded and slowing down. It was okay, though, as Mommy knew we'd have to take it slow for HER sake as well as MINE. And her FRIEND Auntie N was with us to keep us going.

This is the 2.5K marker. See those big dogs panting? I was
not the only one struggling at this point.

 Aunt B and Aunt T had PASSED us up way at the beginning and we saw them on their RETURN walk as we headed up to the turn-around. They finished a full 40 minutes before we did. It was not a race, though, so we did not get mad or anything. And let's face it - that kind of natural beauty should be savored a little along the way.

Look at the bush in the back with reddish leaves. That is
Poison Oak. Mommy made sure to point that out so neither
I nor Lil One would accidently wander into it.

 Before I knew it, we were at the TWO MILE marker!!!! I could not believe it! You can see me grinning from ear to ear - and they thought I would need the WAGON to complete the course! Although, realistically we probably should have had it, in case. BUT I did manage to make it to the TWO MILE marker, nonetheless.

I was really enjoying myself and Mommy let me walk BEAR FOOTED. . . no, no, no. . . she meant BARE FOOTED, for a little while as my pink socks were pretty gross by then. She had a spare pair of POWER PAWS and a little ways down the hill she replaced them. I am happy to report that I did not get a single scraped toe or bloody toenail as the POWER PAWS protected my paws.

Mile Three meant we were almost to the finish line. Look at
the background. That is normally a small lake.

I DID IT!!! I walked a 5K and finished the race! It was definitely a glorious moment for me. The HSSV Volunteers and my FAMILY cheered us on, too! We weren't the last ones to finish the race, but we were close to the end.

I want to take this moment to thank EVERYPUGGY who contributed to Team Pug 'N' Mop! We exceeded our goal which was a real RUSH for us. It all goes to a good cause, to. We love you all for supporting us in this project.

After the race was over and the awards handed out, Mommy and I took off to get Mommy #1. She had to take a TEST for COLLEGE. I am pretty sure we had a lot more fun than she did.

Mommy took this picture while waiting in traffic leaving the park. I didn't make it too far, huh?