Sunday, September 25, 2011

Zoo Run 10K Race Report

First things first, I had the opportunity to meet up with Laurel and Marci on Friday evening for dinner. The first (and last) time we met was at the expo the day before my first marathon back in 2008, when I was soaking up advice from these seasons pros.



It's amazing to see how far we've all come in the last couple of years - unfortunately, we failed to take a picture! Doh!! We'll make sure 3 years don't go by before we get together again. Should be easier now that we're all on the tri circuit. ;)

Race morning I headed to the zoo and got there about 45 minutes before the start, which is actually late by my standards! I was pretty laid back about everything since I was only planning to run for fun. I wandered around for a while checking things out and keeping an eye out for friends.



I managed to connect with Laurel and we chatted away while waiting for the start. We even remembered a photo!


I heard someone call my name and spotted my beloved Dr. Pain working the start line with the elites. Hmmm, how much faster do I need to get for my physiotherapist to come to all of my races? :)


Before long we watched the first wave start and I called my buddy who I was supposed to be running with to see where he was - since our wave was starting in 5 minutes!!


Laurel went to line up in her wave and Dave showed up just in the nick of time. We sneaked into our corral literally seconds before the start.

The plan was to take it nice and slow. We started in the parking lot and made our way along some back roads before heading into the zoo for the fun part.



I slowed down or stopped to take pictures of the animals at every opportunity and had a blast soaking up the sights. It's a windy, narrow course for the most part with lots of small ups and downs to keep things interesting.




There was some entertainment along the way in addition to the animals. These guys were awesome!




Dave hasn't exactly been running this summer... at all... and was definitely working to keep running while I yammered his ear off and obnoxiously snapped photos constantly. I like to think I was providing a good distraction.


I wore my cheetah running skirt (could there be a more appropriate race?) and that got lots of comments along the way. The volunteer and spectator support was excellent.



Pretty soon we could hear the crowds and made a few final twists and turns toward the finish. Quick stop to smooch his baby girl, and we were done!






Chip time - 59:49

It was a fun morning! Next up - Oakville Half Marathon on Sunday! (incase you were wondering why I took it easy on this one....)




26 comments:

Teamarcia said...

Fun stuff! Yes the cheetah skirt is perfecto for that race!

Amanda@runninghood said...

Awww, this looks like a fun time! Love the baby kissing pick! So sweet. :)

Q said...

That looks like a fun race to run!

Aron said...

Sounds like a very fun day :) can't wait for the next race report!!

Jill said...

How fun to run through the zoo!! And yeah, I was wondering why you were lollygagging this race....haha. You are one incredible racing machine!!

XLMIC said...

It seriously looks like you had the BEST time! So awesome :)

Fran said...

Fun, fun, fun! Love that run through the Zoo.

We have a zoo in the next town and when the first marathon ever was held in that town two years ago, part of the route went through the zoo. I did 5k back then and didn't have a chance to run through the zoo.

You can definitely see you had a great time!

Char said...

Now that's my kind of race. It mixes zoos and running - two of my favourite things.

Christine said...

What a fun race! And you get a medal!! Nice!! :)

Johann said...

I love zoo races! Well done and I'm glad you had some good fun. We have day and night races in zoos over here and it is always awesome.

MCM Mama said...

Fun! Love that you had wore a cheetah skirt. So appropriate. ;o)

Anonymous said...

ya your cheetah print skirt was perfect!
i wanted to do that race soooo bad but it sold out sooo quickly!

what else are you runnign this fall?

Marky Mark said...

I missed seeing some of those animals-next time I will try to enjoy more! I'm so confused by all the schedule changes this year. Oakbille used to be on Labour Day and now it is next week when it conflicts with the Prince Edward County full and half--we're doing the half as a slow training run to warm up for Scotia two weeks later. Have a great race!

TMB @ RACING WITH BABES said...

So fun! I'd loved to run through a zoo. Wait. I live in a zoo.

misszippy said...

Love that you wore a cheetah skirt for this! A fun way to shake out the legs for the 1/2.

Lindsay said...

Disappointed.

I thought SURELY maurlene will talk about how she was just running for fun... taking it easy... And then WHAM! Surprise! I PR'd yet again!!

But no. You really did take it easy this time. I guess that's ok too. Especially as long as you didn't beat my half-PR.

Gotta Run..... said...

You had a FULL RACE WEEKEND of fun and a PR to boot. Smiling for you!!

Anonymous said...

There is definitely no better race than this one to bust out that cheetah skirt! Ha, perfecto.

Now the question is, what's your goal for this half???

Runners Fuel said...

Looks like a great race!! So much to see!

Sara said...

OH. MY. GOSH! I didn't know zoo runs existed - I LOVE THE ZOO! I wish we had one of these here. Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing - what a fun time and a great recap - loved the photos the most! :)

Jason said...

I just laughed a bit about the comment: on the tri circuit!

Love it and at the same time recall the term: 'dark side'

Zoo run would be awesome too.....although I don't know if I'd make the finish line once I got to my favorite animals the turtles.

Beth said...

HOW FUN!!!!!!!

ajh said...

What a fun race this would be! I had to click on all your pics to make them larger to see the animals better. A great race to take your time in and have fun.
And congrats on the BQ entry.

kristen said...

Aw- that sounds like a lot of fun!

Nicole said...

look at you go! :) keep it up girl! great job!

Richelle said...

What a fun race! If I had a cheetah skirt, I'd definitely wear one to a race like that!