The Great Zoo Stampede 2012

I totally just did one of my own blogger pet peeves. I referenced in my post on Monday that tomorrow [which is yesterday now. Gawd, I’m smart] I would write about my 10k and then I didn’t do that, I waited another day. Like uh, today. Oops. What can I say? Sometimes I suck. Anyway, I’m doing it now so let’s get this beast started. I don’t have a lot of pictures [read: none] since it was just me running. The husband or the kid weren’t there so this was all me. Which explains why I showed up 45 minutes early and just wandered around the zoo aimlessly [without a camera] until I realized the 1 mile run was already going on and I could cheer for those people [mostly kids] while I waited for my race to start.

If you know anything about me – know this – I am a cheerer. I love it when people clap for me or when people say encouraging words – you never know what a difference it will make in their race [ask Roger] or in their life in general. It’s just good practice.

And with that said - Yes, I am the creepy person who cheers for children that are not hers and tears up with thoughts of how amazing it’s going to be when I force my Lillie to run with me. I was actually surprised there weren’t more people lined up to cheer for these people. So, I double timed it and pretty much wore my voice out. Totally worth it. I didn’t figure a parent would appreciate me posting a picture of their child on my blog without permission, so she’s blurred out but I’m in the background. I’m sure you can tell by my giant man feet & I tweeted my outfit earlier in that day. This is actually the only photo I could find of me online. I was so fast photographers couldn’t even catch me! ha!

After I finished cheering for people, I walked around a little more and finally caught up with my friend Sunny who was doing the 5k. When we were all rounded up like cattle, they prodded us to go with hot shots and we were off. Sunny weaved & dodged to the front of the pack [because she’s fast] and I lagged around the back [because I’m unfast].

The 5k & 10k started at the same time, but they split off about a mile into it. And that’s when I realized I may have underestimated this adorable race because I was dreaming of the awesomeness of poo-flinging monkeys & lions. Because it was not. It was full of hills. And cursing. And hills. And wanting to punch kittens in the face. And hills.The majority of my training takes place on the dreadmill. And what doesn’t take place inside a gym, takes place on a very flat, very boring gravel road by my house. The weather was perfect. In the 60s with only a bit of headwind near the end. Because I knew there would be multiple water stations I opted not to carry my handheld water bottle. Turns out, that was a mistake since the last aid station right up there by mile 5 ran out of water. I was counting on that water, it’s what I was running towards. Like seriously, at that point all I kept thinking was sweet baby Jesus I know you can turn water into wine, but right now I’d ask you to turn that shit right back because this girl is a dehydrated-ass mess.

And if you know me, you know I don’t turn down wine.

I had planned on starting out fairly conservative but according to my Garmin I shot that plan to Hades. Oops. Guess I need to work on that before I go buttfuck crazy in Vegas and end up pooping myself or dying on the strip. But I’m happy to report, that I still managed to beat my previous 10k time of 1:24:04 with a new time of 1:21:56 [according to official race report]!  I really felt like I put everything I had into this race. I ran up the majority of those hills [slowly but still, I did] and I just kept going. There were a few times when I allowed myself to stop, take a break, catch my breath but as soon as I caught it, I just started moving again.

I feel really good about my average pace because the Houston Half that I’ll be running in January requires you run the first 9 miles with a 13:45 pace. I was really concerned about that, but I can feel that worry being lifted off my shoulder as I continue to run my giant feet into the ground. It’s a good feeling, y’all. A really good one. I’m progressing and that is huge.

[Sidebar: I am running for The Epilepsy Foundation and if you donate to the cause I will be sporting your name on my shirt come race day! It’s a great cause and any little bit will help.]

Fun Race Moments:

• I told you guys I was a cheerer, well that doesn’t end while I’m on the sideline. If you pass me, I cheer you. If I pass you, I pat you on the back and tell you you’re doing great. A lot of times runners are wrapped up in their races and don’t respond, which is cool, I get it. I’m just out there doing my thang too. But to the guy in yellow shorts who high-fived the shit out of my hand and cheered me on – you fucking rock. Thanks for being the yin to my yang of cheeriness.
• Just a little past mile 3 into mile 4, Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer came on my iPod. It got me. It got me good for that mile [you see my pace dropped down to 13:12!].
  Lyrics: We’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got…We’re halfway there – Livin’ on a prayer…
  

• The course was gorgeous. It was outside and there were huge trees & flowers & families picking up pecans together & I saw a wombat as I was running through the zoo portion of the run.

This is a race I would definitely recommend [despite those damn hills] – the zoo did a great job and if you showed your race bib you had free entry into the zoo for the remainder of the day. The only problem I really had was the water station being out of commission at the end, but that happens.

Anyway, this was a great training run for Las Vegas and just solidified that even though my training has had some unexpected hiccups it’s still going and I’m still going to make it.

13.1 miles here I fucking come.