Running With Your Heart

Last week Sunday, I ran the Detroit Zoo 5k race! I hadn’t ran it in years – I had to look up on my blog post to see what time I had arrived for my previous races here – an hour early was enough time. While I was at it, of course I had to scroll to see what my race time was! And wow!! Did I run that one fast! Look here to see… this time around I was anticipating 10:00 pace. Recent runs were somewhere around here, depending on the heat, and I am at low weekly mileage.

I meant to run with my friend on the Thursday before the race before trivia at the library. But I forgot to put my clothes bag in the car! Sure enough, when I got home my bag was by the door.

Friday afternoon I saw my friend Janet (and her celebrity cats!) and it was so nice to catch up. I spent more time petting her cats and giving them belly rubs than we did running (3 conversational paced miles). Not to worry, Janet did her scheduled training run in the morning. 😉

On Saturday morning I volunteered three hours at the charity garden. I chopped up green bean vines for nitrogen for the soil, moved wheelbarrowfuls of woodchips to close up some raised beds that have already been harvested, and then finished with some weeding. While its not running, the work is great cardio. I totally record the session as an activity on my Garmin watch. Usually its between 500-600 calories. (I give you permission to count your gardening and yard work as exercise; it definitely is!) After the garden I visited with family. Finally, I had to get home because I wanted to bake a dessert for Sunday. Since the kitchen was already a mess, and somehow not out of energy, I baked a version of Superhero Muffins from the Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. book. If you’ve been around here on this blog, you know I frequently return to this cookbook. I added both chocolate chips and raisins, used store-bought shredded carrots, and added a shredded apple. Pretty much followed the recipe but tossing more stuff in. They turned out great, as usual, and honestly I’m telling myself (and my husband) that these are healthy for us.

Sunday morning, September 7, I got up almost as early as I do for work, about 5:45 AM. For breakfast I ate three of the superhero muffins. I left the house twenty to seven to arrive an hour before the race started at 8. Of course, traffic was light, even with the highway construction projects. When you arrive from the service drive entrance, you’re shuffled into the lot or the parking garage, no choice in the matter. I ended up in the garage this time. I was on Floor 2 and when I parked this floor was mostly empty.

In the morning, it felt around low 50s, a little crisp that we weren’t quite ready for. Lots of people were walking around in their fleece jackets and long sleeve shirts. I kept my hoodie on while I went to get my race shirt and bib. They offer ‘packet pickup’ on Saturday – but I had a full Saturday as it was. It felt like a five-minute walk from the parking spot to the check-in. Everything was well-organized, a one-minute wait in line, and I was back to walking back to the car.

I definitely sat in the car another 10-15 minutes with the heated seat on. My friend and his family arrived and, “Ok I can get out of the car now.” 😊 This year’s Run Wild theme, or mascot, was for Jagger – the sloth bear.

In this race, you finish the run in the back of the zoo and can join the post-race lunch and walk around to view the animals and exhibits. The catch is, you really cannot walk back to the car at the very front of the zoo to get any extra clothing and then return to the zoo where the post-race lunch is, just too much walking! I’m grateful the Detroit Zoo is too large for you to do that easily – it’s a good problem to have! I remember from past years that I had a long sleeve shirt I tied around my waist during the race that I could have with me to stay warm after the race. It made it difficult to breathe – I still haven’t figured out how people do that! But I need to keep my body heat after the race. I brought a long sleeve technical shirt with me to keep on before the race.

This is one of those races where they have enough participants that the hired race organizers easily could arrange the start line into a few laid-back start corrals for people won’t trip over each other in the beginning. Remembering this, I started a little more forward. I love that this race brings out the entire family. People are here to support the zoological society and animal welfare. There is also a walk-only option inside the zoo. I understand that some people might never have ran a 5k race before and they don’t know the race etiquette of where or how to line up; this is not the kind of race where you should get upset about the lineup.

The running race started 12 minutes late. I can guess the entrances to get into the parking lots back up on the service drive and it moves slow. The delayed start didn’t bother me. My forward start was a good choice. The race begins on the service drive and goes past the golf course, turning into the neighborhood but still along the golf course, running by beautiful houses, with all the cars off the streets, then coming back up along the golf course. It is very pleasant, the streets do not have hazards like potholes or parked cars and it is fairly shady. Most people are surprised when I tell them the course isn’t actually inside the zoo. Duh! How can you have 1,000+ runners packed on the skinny pathways, not trip over benches, trample flowers, and not disturb the animals at the same time? I think it is perfectly fine for the run to be outside of the zoo.

I tied my long sleeve shirt around my wrist and kinda held the long-sleeve arms so it wouldn’t come undone. For the length of a 5k, it was NOT awful. I’m shocked at my split times! I was putting effort in but it didn’t feel impossible until nearing the end, maybe the last quarter. I’m very happy. Overall, finished 286/1462, female 88/882.

After my friends finished, we walked further into the zoo to find family doing the “walk” portion. They had lots of animal education activities aimed at kids throughout the course. I love this!

They also received a finisher’s medal before the post-race party. They had a very nice set up. Many tents and tables, no shortage of seating. There was several lines for food, including a lane for dietary restrictions. Lunch was Great Lakes chips, a hot dog, and a cinnamon sugar donut. Of course, they had bananas, which I skipped.

On our way out, we visited the penguins. It truly is a world class exhibit for the penguins. I think it still holds the title of world’s largest penguin exhibit. They have a new species, a chinstrap penguin. There’s lots to learn in here.

It was a wonderful day. And fueled excellently by the muffins.

I’ve already made another batch of Superhero muffins.