Zoo Zoom 2007 Race Report

As promised, below is my race report for the Baltimore Zoo Zoom 2007.

The race was slated to begin at 8 AM at the Maryland Zoo, which is in Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. While the park is very nice, it’s in a bad part of Baltimore and can be a dangerous place at night. However, at 8 AM on a Sunday all the crazies are still asleep.

Packet pickup for the race was being held the day before at Falls Road Running in Mt. Washington. It coincided with the huge post-marathon tent sale, so I made a little trip of it. I picked up my race packet, which included a nice long-sleeved t-shirt and some information about the zoo, etc. There is an adopt-an-animal program where for $20 you can adopt your choice of a zoo animal (like a lion or an arctic fox, etc). I think I might do that as part of Annie’s Christmas gift for something different.

Anyway, while I was there, I bought a new pair of running shorts to replace the two pair from Target that I absolutely hated (see my previous post from last Wednesday). I got these shorts at 40% off and they’re New Balance, so they’re great quality. I also bought a Brooks long-sleeved running shirt for 20% off. I have a ¾ length shirt that I bought at the Baltimore Marathon’s Health and Fitness Expo back in October, but it’s a little thinner than I am comfortable with wearing when it’s below 50 degrees. My new short is thicker, but still a technical shirt, so it breathes well. I also bought two Clif Bars: Chocolate Brownie for Annie and Blueberry Crisp for me.

So, Sunday morning I woke up around 6:45 to give myself plenty of time to wake up and get dressed, etc before leaving for the zoo. I spent a good deal of time the night before getting my stuff together and thinking about what I wanted to wear for the cold weather. I’m glad I did so much research because I ended up being just right for the run.

I ended up wearing shorts and my long sleeved shirt, along with a fleece to the race. It was hovering around 35 degrees at that point, so I was worried I’d be too cold. But I got there a little late because I got all the way to my car in the parking garage only to realize I had forgotten my race bib on the couch. So I went back up and got it and then headed out. I parked and got situated by about 7:45 AM, which was about 15 minutes later than I had aimed for initially. I put on my gloves that I had gotten in the Baltimore Running Festival race pack, along with a knit toboggan to cover my ears. Of all the warm clothing I wore, I think the hat made me feel the warmest since it kept my ears warm and my head covered.

As soon as I walked into the zoo, race volunteers were calling for people to line up and get ready to go. I didn’t have a good chance to warm up my muscles, so I was concerned about injuring myself like I did after the Run to Cooperstown back in July. I stretched as best I could and before I knew it, the horn sounded and we were off!

The course wound through the park for about 2.5 miles I estimate, before going through the zoo. I estimate because there weren’t any mile markers on the course so aside from my stopwatch on my watch and the assumption that I was running around 9:00 min miles, I had no idea how far I was from the end. I hope they fix that for next year’s race.

After what I guess was about a mile, we hit a water station, however it was so early in the race, I wasn’t thirsty and didn’t stop, thinking that I’d hit the next one, which I assumed would be around 3 miles or so. Wrong! That was the only stop on the entire course! If this race had been in August, people would have been in danger. As it was 38 degrees, it wasn’t so bad, but still annoying not to have anything to drink. I had even brought my own water bottle of Gatorade but had left it in the Jeep because I figured they’d have at least two water stations on a 5 mile course.

I enjoyed the course itself. It was very hilly by my standards and offered a lot of nice scenery to take my mind off the burning in my quads from the hills. I stuck to a basic strategy throughout the race: pick up the speed a little on the straight and level portions, slow down and take smaller strides on the hills, and let my momentum carry me down the down slopes without losing control of my pace and risking injury. It seemed to work fairly well, although I think I could have pushed the level running a tad more. However, the short strides really helped my hill running. There was one hill that nearly killed me and I had to stop and walk for about 20 seconds before starting down again, but that was the toughest part of the course, I think.

The second half of the course wound through the Maryland Zoo, which was cool. We ran through the “Africa” section, although most of the paddocks were empty and the animals had been brought inside. I guess it doesn’t get down to 38 degrees in too many parts of Africa. We did run past the cheetah, however, which was cool. He looked really confused at all the possible prey running past him for no good reason. We also ran by the penguin habitat. They were just looking at us with confused looks as well. After we ran through Africa, I could hear this woman behind me complaining to everyone about how crappy the race was. I could tell from her tone that she was a real experienced runner (know-it-all complaining voice “I could put a 5K together with this many people running without any problems!” etc). She was pissed too, because apparently she had run the wrong way at one point on the course, which cost her a bunch of time. She was cursing up a storm too, which while I support (I curse up a storm when I’m angry too), she was doing it around parents running with their kids, which I do not condone. In the end, it’s just a 5-mile race through a zoo so lighten up and shut your mouth. Honestly. Don’t ruin it for everyone else because you were born with your head up your ass.

I can understand being angry about the lack of water, signage, and knowledgeable volunteers, but just suck it up and shut up. Run your race and try to enjoy yourself. She sped past me and went off cursing and complaining, presumably to the finish line where she undoubtedly bitched out someone else. When you get that angry about a hobby, it’s time to take a step back and relax. Isn’t this supposed to be fun?

Before long, I could hear people cheering and knew I was getting close to the finish line. It snuck up on me, actually, as I got into the zone of progressively catching up to runners in front of me. Some of them I just couldn’t catch, of course, but the exercise helped to pass the miles. I gave a good kick to the finish and crossed in 45:58 according to the clock, but my watch said 45:45, which I accept as more accurate since I was in the back of the starting pack and assumed the starting line (again, no starting line was delineated) to be about 25 yards in front of me. That works out to about a 9:09 pace, which is pretty good for not knowing where I was on the course or how fast I was running at any given mile.

Afterwards, they were giving out water so I took two bottles and made my way to swag tent. They had bagels, cheese, donuts and bananas available. They also had this energy drink from Coke available. It was carbonated and had some berry flavor to it, but it tasted horrible and I threw my can away. Don Pablo’s was a sponsor of the race and was hading out free nachos with either cheese or chili sauce along with Amstel Light beer. I got myself some nachos with cheese but no beer since it would have made me feel gross. After resting for about 15 minutes and watching other people cross the finish line, I headed back to the Jeep.

Overall, this was not a bad race. I liked the course and the weather worked out well. I think mid-November is a good time for a wintry race because the chances of bad weather are fairly even (as compared with December or later). It was a pretty well attended race, although I think it was bigger in years past. This year, 435 people participated. I also liked the nachos at the end. However, the lack of a clearly marked course, lack of mileage signs, and only one water station on the course were major detractors. Next year I think I will have to make sure those problems have been fixed before I register to run it again.

So, with my clock time of 45:58, I came in 201st place out of 435, which puts me in the 46th percentile. Better than 50% is always a plus for me. I finished 13th of the 30 men in my age division, putting me in the 42nd percentile there.

I’m pleased with that result since it was my longest race to date and I had no idea what my pace was. Perhaps if I had known, I could have picked it up at certain spots. But I’m happy to have gotten solidly under the 10:00 min mark.

My next race is next Thursday at the Green Valley North Turkey Trot, where I plan to break out my long sleeved shirt, gloves and toboggan again and try to break 26 minutes!
For now, I am resting, as my calves and quads are sore today. They should be fine by tomorrow so I can get back to the gym without any interruption.