People, dogs run 5k
The 14th Annual College of Veterinary Medicine Dog Jog took place on Sunday
Published Oct. 23, 2007
At the sound of Dog Jog co-chairwoman Ashley Welch shouting "Go!" and a piercing siren, nearly 50 people set off running north. So did about 30 dogs.
Heartbeats accelerated, breaths quickened and barks multiplied, beginning the 14th Annual College of Veterinary Medicine Dog Jog. The race started a few minutes after 9 a.m. in the Clydesdale Hall parking lot.
Among the runners were junior pre-veterinary students Heather Wise and Ben Yarnall.
In front of Wise galloped a brown and white Australian Shepherd mix named Oakley. Before Yarnall was a brown and white Basset-Pekingese mix named Jackie Boy.
But neither Oakley nor Jackie Boy had ever seen Wise or Yarnall. Both dogs are from Columbia Second Chance, the no-kill, all-volunteer animal shelter that received some of the proceeds from the jog. The shelter allowed the students, both of whom work in the college's small-animal clinic, to bring the dogs along for the 5K on which they had just embarked.
Right from the start, Oakley and Jackie Boy were a foot or two ahead of their temporary masters, who were being pulled by their temporary dogs. And the footsteps weren't the only resulting sounds. When Wise and Yarnall huffed, the dogs puffed at twice the speed.
As time elapsed, the joggers spread out along the course, which wound north west through East Campus and then campus itself, south and finally east, bringing the runners back to where they started.
Toward the end, near University Hospital, Oakley and Jackie Boy tired somewhat, and their leads dwindled by a few inches. Meanwhile, Wise and Yarnall kept their pace relatively constant.
Although Oakley, Jackie Boy, Wise and Yarnall were not the first to cross the finish line, Wise said their time, which was 24 minutes, 57 seconds - she and Yarnall reached the line at the same time - was "not bad."
That could be attributed to the fact that for the past month, Wise and Yarnall had been preparing for the 5K on the Katy Trail, Wise said.
Wise said she would not adopt Oakley because her off-campus living situation would not allow her to have a pet. And Yarnall, a member of Phi Kappa Theta fraternity, said he could not take Jackie Boy home.
Despite their preparation, Wise and Yarnall did not out-jog Nancy Taube. The administrative assistant for MU's history department took third place in the women's competition, clocking in about three minutes earlier with Gracie, her Border Collie-Pointer cross.
"She was pulling," said Taube, who had raced in 5Ks before, but never with a dog. "That was the thing. I was trying to start out with 'heel,' and that wasn't working at all, so I just let her go, and we just ran. If she were a horse, you would say that I gave her the bit and let her run with it."
Wise and Yarnall did not top event co-chairwoman Claire Beckmeyer either. Despite taking a minor spill, the junior veterinary student, along with Ellie, her Black Labrador-English Setter mix, took first place overall.
When Welch, who is a friend of Beckmeyer's, saw Beckmeyer cross the finish line first, she said she was not surprised because she "expected her to come in first anyway."
That's because last year Beckmeyer and Ellie also did well. They took second place overall in the 5K, which resulted in Beckmeyer being tapped to head up this year's jog.
Beckmeyer said she ran the race this year because she had to tell everyone what the route was.
The problem was posed because a veterinary school league baseball game took place at the same time as the jog. As a result, few students from the class of 2009, which was in charge of the event, showed up to hold signs showing the way, Welch said.
Aside from that, Beckmeyer said she was pleased with the turnout, especially after rain forced the organizers to reschedule.
"We really were worried about numbers, and we got a fair number of people," she said.