This town is going to the dogs

Gingerbread Jog Dog Walk

OK. So, this is getting a little ridiculous. I go out for a workout run and I end up in the middle of a road race or fun walk or both. In today's case, the timelapserunner found himself competing with man's best friends for a piece of the road. Intent on putting in his six miles around the Lakes and City Park this morning, the timelapserunner found himself trading strides with little four-legged racers competing in the Cane's-sponsored Gingerbread 1-mile Family Fun Run and Dog Walk in the City Park area. With most of the mutts tuckered out near the finish, yours truly had little trouble passing them up even though we were more than three miles into our workout at the time. But that encounter was only the half of it.

Gingerbreaders just before the gun

But a few scant yards past the finish of the pooch parade human contestants were gathering for their own version of a Saturday morning stroll. Just before 9AM this crowd was gathering quickly and getting antsy waiting for their own race to start. I overheard one runner inquire regarding which direction the race would head out in, so I hurried past the gathering hoping to avoid getting trampled by sprinting humans heading in the wrong direction. At my slow pace planned for this day (13:11 per mile), I would be raw meat for this pack of hungry racing machines, though I figured that I might run into them somewhere along the way depending on the race route.

Gingerbread 5K leader at halfway

Sure enough, a mere 10 or 12 minutes later, here comes the 5K race leader, path cleared by police escort and bicycled race official. I cheered him on with a brief 'way to go' or something to that effect as I marched to my own drummer on the way back to the beach starting point. The leader was really moving out, at least compared to my amble, putting good distance between himself and the next few runners. You can bet that he's either an elite high school or perhaps even an LSU cross-country athlete.

More Gingerbread runners

Not much farther along in my run I crossed paths with the rest of these Gingerbreaders as they made their way along the scenic Baton Rouge 5K course, taking a moment out of my workout to snap a few pics to memorialize their efforts. I hope they all had a good time and enjoyed being out on the road this morning, enjoying God's grandeur and feeling the excitement of being alive and able to run. That's how I felt, for sure. Still, there's something weird about all the races the timelapserunner keeps stumbling into. Not complaining, mind you.