Providence Animal Center's Bark in the Park 5K

Great Danes, poodles, pitties, dachshunds, collies and more! Dogs of every shape and size ran, sniffed, played and rolled in the grass at Providence Animal Center's Bark in the Park fundraiser on Oct. 26 at Rose Tree Park in Media. It was pure heaven, but a little bittersweet as well.

  Two years ago, I brought my best buddy Finnegan with me and we took part in the 1-mile walk. Sadly last May Finnegan passed away at the age of 15. We had spent so many days hiking in the woods, playing in the snow, swimming in the creeks and walking around the neighborhood. She struggled her last five months, but the night before she passed we went on one final long walk. It felt like a last goodbye to all her dog and human friends. This past summer without her felt empty, and I missed so many things such as her walks and the connections we had built with fellow dog parents in the area.

  So last month, with my donation from my work in hand, my mom and I walked into Providence Animal Center (PAC) and met little Mudrick. I wanted to adopt a female dog with black fur, to remind me of my Finnegan. Mudrick was the last of her litter, which had been brought up from Georgia. Looking at her brown eyes and big ears I asked her, "do you want to come home with us?" I took her licking my face as a "yes" so Mudrick, renamed Georgia May, joined our family and is now the baby of our loud and crazy herd which includes five cats.

  So I decided this year to run the Bark in the Park 5K in memory of Finnegan and in support of Georgia May and all the furry friends at PAC. After posting a Facebook message about the event, I was able to raise $125 to donate to PAC.

  Arriving early on race day, I was greeted by a plethora of pups dressed as bumblebees, ballerinas and superheroes. One dog and its runner owner were even wearing matching red and white striped shirts resembling the main character from "Where' Waldo?." I thought it might be too much to run with Georgia May (maybe next year when she turns 1), so Kevin and my mom walked her as I lined up to race. The weather was perfect, cool and partly cloudy, and thankfully the rain held off until late afternoon. At 10 a.m. nearly 200 runners, led by 6abc's Cecily Tynan, took off with a pack of pups around the 122-acre county-owned park.

  While I typically run on pavement, running on the Rose Tree Park trails (which is often used by area high school cross country teams) was fun and something different as I navigated around the historic buildings and admired the vivid fall colors. The course, which thankfully was just one loop, was definitely strenuous and filled with hills, twists and tree roots.

  Throughout the course, volunteers were very helpful and lined the course to keep the runners on the right route. Members of the Strath Haven High School cheerleading team also shouted words of encouragement as we made our way around the scenic woodlands. It was so fun watching the dogs in the race, one of whom decided to lay down and rest, some who were on sniffing missions and another who had the call of nature around mile 2. I never laughed so much during a race, and the dogs definitely distracted me from thinking that I didn't get enough sleep the night before or that there were too many hills.

  Crossing the finish line I was greeted by Georgia May and pleasantly surprised by my best finish time in a few years, 30:47. We then quickly headed over to the group photo of all the PAC alums and their owners. Through sponsors and fundraisers, as well as contributions the day of, the event raised a whopping $172,000 according to PAC officials.

Georgia May keeps a steady eye on Momzie's pizza slice.

  Strolling around the festival, we visited the dog kissing booth, dog costume contests, a vaccine and micro-chipping clinic, the food trucks the local business vendors (tons of freebies) and more. Grading on the route, ease and cost of registration (which was $25), T-shirt appeal (a very cute khaki and yellow) and overall fun factor I give this race five sneakers out of five.

Wearing her new PAC scarf and napping on the couch after a long day of fun.