A Finish Line Worth Wagging About
At 60, Marissa Flint is still finding new ways to surprise herself.
A high school art teacher by day, she stumbled into running 20 years ago when a group of fellow teachers signed up for a local Reindeer Run 5K. It wasn't exactly a speedy start. "It took me about an hour to walk that race, but it got me interested in running," she says, "I was hooked." Crossing the finish line sparked something unexpected, so she signed up for another race. Then another.
What began as a fun challenge with friends grew into a lifelong passion that has carried her through countless miles, races, and personal milestones. Along the way, she has completed numerous 5Ks and half marathons, nine marathons, and even an ultramarathon.
Her love of challenges is what laid the foundation for trying new adventures, and if you're trying something new, shouldn't your best furry friend come along, too? Marissa decided to find out.
What adventure did you tackle? I found out about the Ultimutt Race, in Mill Spring, North Carolina, on Instagram and thought it looked fun. It's a 3-mile course with 17 obstacles for your pup. The obstacles include a teeter totter, a muddy buddy crawl, a doggie bag carry and of course, a water slide. Why not give it a try?
How many treats does it take to train a dog for an event? While I run several days a week and walk Scout every day, we kicked our training up a notch by working toward running at a steady pace together. Normally, Scout is more of a stop-and-sniff kind of guy, so that took some practice.
Living in Florida, I have to be mindful of the heat when running with him, but since the race was in April, we had perfect training weather. We started adding short runs to our daily walks in January and gradually built up from there.
At any point before the event did you think, "This is a terrible idea"? I wasn’t nervous as I was doing this for a purely fun experience with Scout. He is my heart dog and he is nine years old now, so I figured this was the time to do it with him. There is a competitive division but we signed up for the fun wave so there was no pressure to perform, just to enjoy the day.
Best part of the race? Our favorite part was the water obstacles. It was unusually warm for North Carolina that day, so we did more of a run/walk on the course, but as soon as we hit the water obstacles Scout perked right up.
When we got to the waterslide, he pulled me full-speed down the hill. Most dogs stopped at the bottom, but Scout kept going right into the lake until I was fully submerged. So fun! It was a day of joy.
How big was the pack on race day? There were over 800 dogs in the event, and it was surprising how well-behaved they were. Next year, they are making it a two-day event (and a month earlier for cooler temps). Scout is a senior boy so I’d have to wait until then to see if it is something he would still want to do, but I loved it so. If he were up for it, I would definitely do it again!
Advice for anyone curious about trying something like this: I think if you approach it as a fun new challenge it can help you appreciate what you love even more. I have loved running for twenty years, but I am running fewer miles these days and am slowing down a lot. It was so rewarding to train for a few months with Scout and then to enjoy a great weekend road trip with him.
