Running with the Animals

I prayed for it to not start raining until after 10:00 on Sunday morning. Or at least for it to not start raining very hard. The Zoo Run started at 9:00 and I just wanted to finish without getting soaked. The rains held off but the winds did not. There was a good 15 mph wind during the run, with gusts probably approaching 30 mph.

I got there a little after 8:00 to register. There were high school kids, families with little kids, couples with jogging strollers and singles getting checked-in and ready to run. Good mix of people. It was in the upper 60's and cloudy so that was good, no chance to get too hot.

It took a few steps to get into a run after the start gun sounded and for the crowd to thin out. It was one lap around the zoo, then run the first part again and then out into the neighborhood, turn around and come back.

I forgot that it is a pretty hilly course. Between the hills and the wind, it was a little tough. However, once down to the last half mile of so I turned on the jets and gave all I had left to get to the finish line.

I finished in 53:00. Not too bad, since I did have to stop and walk a couple times. The finish line setup was fun. Coffee, water, Powerade, fruit, bagels. Everyone hanging out chatting. I heard someone passing me on their phone say that the top placers came in at about 28 minutes.

Maybe next year I will get a little closer to them.