I felt sort of bummed out after the Princess was over since I had trained for a while for it and then it was all over before I knew it.
I found out about a 5k at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo earlier this week and decided to register to help get over my post-race sadness. A race through the zoo past a bunch of animals seemed like an awesome way to get back into the swing of things!
My alarm went off at 6:15 a.m. and WOW, was I tired. The temperature dipped here last night too and my apartment has terrible insulation so I was freezing. The only thing I wanted to do was either get in my car and blast the heat or start running.
Well, I did both! :)
I got to the zoo around 7 a.m. and waited around for half an hour before the race started. I got my chip and attached it onto my shoe for timing.
This was a walk/run 5k so I made sure I was closer to the front to avoid walkers.
The race set off and winded around the parking lot and the Hillsborough River which was really pretty with the sun just coming up! I headed into the zoo after mile 1 and the course seemed to go by pretty quickly at this point. It was well marked and there were big arrows directing me where to go.
At one point I ran into the (warm) fish/turtle/manatee viewing center which was super pretty! Not all of the animals were out while we were running which made me sort of sad because I would have loved to see the monkeys while I ran but I kept on going.
As I came around Mile 2, there was someone with a timer. She told me I was coming in around 16:56! Wow! I could PR this race, I thought. So I picked up my pace a little bit. I was closer to the front so there were not a lot of people around me, which was sort of nice.
When I hit mile 3 I blew threw the final part of the course.
Clock time: 25:21! Woo hoo!
The after party was awesome. There was a ton of free food -- bananas, apples, sandwiches, cookies, beef jerky (yay), and CHICK-FIL-A.
Yes there was Chick-Fil-A. Best 5k ever.
I got free chicken nuggets!
I stayed for the race after party since my race entry allowed me to get into the zoo for the day. This is when they started giving out medals.
Guess what? I placed! First in my division. This may never happen to me again but I was super happy. I knew I had been running a good time and it felt good walking away with a medal.
Afterwards, I headed into the zoo to check out the animals who were all pretty lively. I got to pet some sting rays which is my FAVORITE part of the zoo. It was awesome.
I saw some giraffes too. :)
Since I had registered late, I wasn't guaranteed a shirt, but they had extras at the end of the race and I picked one up. I was sooo happy because I really wanted the shirt. I mean, how could you not? Look how cute it is!
I loved this race and would run it again for sure. It felt nice walking away with a PR and the trip to the zoo was a nice little addition.
Thanks for a super fun race, Lowry Park Zoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment