Making an Impact - Impact Animal Foundation

Kelsey and I made quite a pair this morning, the morning of the Impact Animal Foundation 5K run/1 mile walk to support animal rescue and adoption. I'm still sick from the lovely virus that came to visit earlier this week (at least I have my voice back) and am trying desperately not to cough up a lung. Kelsey, my dog, isn't sick but she's 11 years old, has had two knee surgeries and has arthritis in one of her front legs. 

I seriously considered just sleeping through it, but I have been looking forward to this since I mentioned it on the blog two weeks ago. Impact Animal Foundation is a great local rescue group and I've known quite a few people who have both fostered and adopted their animals. It was a great chance to support them and an opportunity to show some love to my little one - a nice walk in a beautiful park. Yeah. I got out of bed.

We parked at the edge of the mall, where extra parking was available, and Kelsey and I made the short walk to Wolf Pen Creek Park. If you're  not local, this is an absolutely gorgeous park with several walking paths that lead around town and where we have our annual music festival. The day was a little cool (it was in the low 40's when I dragged my butt out of bed), but the sky was blue and not a cloud in it, and Kelsey was beyond excitement with all the awesome new places to pee. Sweet!

We walked around to the other side of the park to sign in, get our free poo bag and event shirt (I love event shirts) and visit the puppies just waiting to be adopted. Unfortunately, Kelsey is a little skittish about other animals and the many dogs (most of them pretty large) had her a little freaked out. We saw one of our vets at one point, but she had two large dogs with her and Kelsey wasn't having any of that. We hung out for about an hour in the grass and under the warm sun while we watched the 5K runners start and finish. Yeah, the sicko the the crip were not even going to attempt a 5K. The 1 mile walk was going to kick our butts as it was.

About 9:30, the day had started to warm a bit and event organizers announced the beginning of the 1-mile walk. We allowed all the big dogs to go first - you could tell they were young and full of energy - and those of us who were old and already tired brought up the rear. We made it to the half-way point and part of the way back before poor Kelsey pooped out. She was moving so slow that I felt sorry for her. So I picked her up and carried her most of the way to the finish line. Once we were close though, I set her down and with renewed energy, she walked and peed her way to the end. Go, Kelsey!

By the time we finished, almost everyone else had picked over the water and snacks and were getting ready to go home. They were just waiting on the announcement of the 5K awards. I did manage to find one last apple (one of Kelsey's favorites) and she and I shared it with a cute little 5-month old yorkie dog named Winnie, that had been rescued and recently adopted. Winnie was so cute! I was happy to share the apple with her, but Kelsey wasn't impressed and was a little miffed at me for sharing HER apple. Every time I tried to give Winnie a piece, Kelsey dove for it, but I managed to sneak her a few pieces. That's Kelsey there in the photo sucking on the core. 

Shortly thereafter, we headed back to the car. I was sick and she was tired and we'd done about all we could do. Now at home, Kelsey is completely crashed-out and will probably stay that way the rest of the day. I'm not planning on doing much in the way of moving around myself, but I sure am glad we went. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday, but you'll have to excuse me for now, I'm crawling back under the covers. Later!

For more information about Impact Animal Foundation, check out their website.