Tonight a local women's running club, SB2SB (Sports Bras to Sports Bars) sponsored an event benefitting the Humane Society of Greater KC, a "poker run." I had no idea what that meant, but on a beautiful 74 degree evening in October—this IS still October, right?—there was no way I was passing up a chance to run with the pooches! We all met on the patio at the Brooksider Bar & Grill.
Here's how it worked: we each paid our admission & drew a card (I got an Ace of diamonds, which I soon realized I had no way to go but down!), taking note of the color/design on the back. We took that card with us & started the run, collecting 3 more cards from the same deck along the 3-4 mile route. (They weren't sure how far we ran. And it's a running club. Funny.) The route followed the Trolley Trail from 63rd Street to the Roasteried, then a U-turn down to 75th Street, out in front of Taj Mahal, and then back again. At the finish line we'd draw one last card and the highest poker hand would win.
It was actually kind of a strange crowd, aside from the HSGKC volunteers, who are always nice. We were crammed into the Brooksider patio like human & canine sardines. Most of the runners all knew each other from the club, and I felt a little like an outsider—only a couple of them talked to me, and some of the others were actually a little rude. I also got the impression that they looked at my dogs and assumed we'd be walking the course. Whatevs. You just tell your weimaraner to try to keep up, ok?
The dogs ran like champs, particularly considering that I've been pretty much off running since July (save a random 5k or a run at the park here and there). I was the only one who ran with two, and I was proud of both: Taylor was the lead dog as always, pulling me the whole way. And Aki did great at keeping up—I learned from the Good Citizen experience that encouraging her along the way makes a huge difference. She really responds to my voice.
Every time I reached a station & grabbed a card I had to shove it in my bra (sorry, no pockets!), and by the end of the race they were a little sweaty, befitting of a crappy hand: Ace, Jack, 9, 8, 5. We finished in about 35 minutes and near the front of the group, but without either the fastest time or the best hand to pull off a win. Guess I need to teach these dogs to play poker!
In all, we raised $445 for the Humane Society. And there must be something about running (ok, and about beer) that loosens people up, because everyone was much friendlier after the race. Guess I just had to prove myself. It was a great time.
Photos courtesy of Brookside Barkery:
(And yes, we beat the weimaraner.)
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