Walker: combining love for dogs with Ironman triathlons

AFTER Jill Walker finished the bike portion of a triathlon, her friend informed her that the top runner in her age group was only about seven minutes ahead.

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But Walker didn’t speed up to try to clinch first place. Her main objective was to pet as many dogs as possible.

Walker paused running to pet dozens of dogs over the rest of the course in Madison, Wisconsin.

She was about a quarter-mile from winning her age group when she saw a spectator near the finish line holding a puppy above his head.

Walker couldn't resist; she delayed her victory to pet her 45th dog that race in September.

Walker, 57, is now preparing for her 100th Ironman triathlon, which consists of a grueling 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. Among the highlights of her races in more than a dozen states and six continents are the hundreds of dogs she has stopped to meet along the way.

Although she is usually not overly concerned with her race time, Walker keeps a mental tally of the dogs she pets each race — her record is 67 pets.

“They're like my aid station,” Walker, who lives in Tampa, told The Washington Post. “If I feel like I’m running slow, and I'm just like, ‘Ugh, I don’t feel like running anymore,’ then I see a dog and I'm petting them, and I start running again, and my pace is so much faster.”