Snowdogathon: Tails of a Pawsome run

A group of runners from different run clubs throughout Cardiff ran the Snowdogathon route together...One might say they are all BARKING MAD!

On a Saturday morning in mid October runners got ready for the Snowdogathon! Ben, Mikey and Jack planned to run the whole route, which they thought was 26.2 miles... It actually ended up being 28.5 miles! The 3 of them met at 6.50am to catch the 7.01am bus to Cardiff Airport, however, the bus that was meant to arrive didn't arrive! Fortunately though, a bus came to the rescue at 7.25am - The plan to begin the run from Cardiff airport at 7.30am wasn't going to plan exactly...

You can watch the video from the Snowdogathon run here - Keep reading to find out how the day unfolded

We arrived at Cardiff Airport at 7.50am and had a quick photo with the Snowdog and then began our journey... the countdown was now on... 1 down, 42 to go!

We're in Barry!

Arriving in Barry, Ben Mikey and Jack headed to Snowdog no 2 and then no 3. These were both really cool!! One was decorated in Neon colours, the other was metallic silver and reflective.

We're in Penarth...

Onto Snowdogs 3 and 4 which were both in Penarth. By this point we had covered 12+ miles and we were very much looking forward to meeting the half marathon and 10k distance runners. We had already received a selfie from them which they took whilst they were on the train so we knew they had made it safe and sound!

Hi everyone!!!

We met the half marathoners and 10k runners at Penarth. It was pawesome to see y'all! We then continued with the Snowdogathon as a huge group. We made it to our next Snowdog, Life's a beach. One of the runners started taunting the Snowdog statue... everyone wondered how the Snowdog would respond, but Ben reassured everyone to not be alarmed by the Snowdogs... as their bark is worse than their bite! Waheyyyy!... I've only just started.

We then continued onto the next Snowdog. This was on the barrage. We tried to get the dog (a real dog) to sit with us in the photo with the Snowdog... but... You can't teach an old dog new tricks - He wouldn't sit with us for the photo!

Keep going guys

We continued around the barrage and then into Cardiff Bay restaurant area. We had woofly covered about 3 miles at this point. Whilst stopping at one of the Snowdogs, runners accidentally managed to make a poor child cry... the child cheered when he registered the Snowdog code into the app and when runners celebrated with him he became frightened and then started to cry - We are sorry child! Down the bay we also met Sara; She is one of the organisers of the Snowdog trail. She thanked us for our efforts and congratulated us for what we had done so far and wished us luck for the remainder of our journey.

At the Wales Millennium Centre we met a few more runners, HELLO new faces :) These were the 5km runners. We then went into the Red Dragon Centre to get a photo with the next Snowdog, Oscar, before running the long straight, known as Lloyd George Avenue, into town. Emma managed to pick up her fastest 1km time ever! - BIG CHEER!

We need a plan troops... Town is going to be busy!

Ben had this genius plan which he spent all of 30 seconds thinking up. Let's run like a snake through town. Make sure that you stop when the person in front of you stops though, otherwise you will get to know each other more than you might like! This appeared to work, all for 30 seconds... and then it was very much dodge members of the public (we were very careful and respectful of Sunday shoppers :) )!

We continued through town. We had photos with dogs in quick succession. Some of the Snowdogs looked very smiley - Every dog has it's day! Town was busy and members of the public looked quite confused to see a group of runners run and then suddenly stop to have a photo with a Snowdog.

Once we reached the Snowdog by the museum we congratulated all of the 5k and 10k runners who had completed their snowdog route. Ben invited them all to continue running if they wanted to, but he was informed quickly that he was barking up the wrong tree and they were heading for some bubbles and food... and if there was anything leftover then it would be taken home in a doggy bag.

Half Marathon runners and Marathon runners, let's go!

The remaining runners continued running and headed to the Snowdog by Cardiff University and then onto the Snowdog in Roath Park. This Snowdog definitely escaped the pack and had freedom as he was nowhere near the other dogs... an adventurous thrill seeking dog, every dog has it's day!

After we ran to Roath Park we then headed to Victoria Park and Thompson Park. It's a dogs life and we were now 'feeling the burn'. Once we had photos taken with the dogs and entered the code in for these Snowdogs into our apps we began the final stretch back into town... There were now only 3 Snowdogs to go... Exhaustion was setting in, we couldn't make heads or tails of the route, but fortunately we were able to regain our focus in time!

We then made it into Landaff fields, Snowdog number 41! Then headed to The Secret Garden Cafe, Snowdog number 42...

Drawing on all the energy we had left we continued running to the final Snowdog...! In our sights... and then....

SNOWDOG NUMBER 43!!! Wahooooo! WE DID IT!

We all felt quite ruff after the run and decided it was time to go to the pub for a well earned beverage... and so we headed to 29 Bark Place!... Oppps... I meant 'Park Place!'

Click here to visit the Snowdogs: Tails in Wales homepage.

Thank you to everyone who made the Snowdogathon possible, the sponsors, the runners, the organisers and the public for being so supportive!