Ready, set, START!

I had a GREAT weekend! It was nice to get away from my real life in Denver on a short road trip…even though it was only 2 days! My weekend started out great with seeing The Avengers in Imax 3d, my best friend got engaged, and I made my way down to New Mexico! It ended fantastic with a PR by 10 minutes!!! Yep, you read that right!!

Let me tell you about the Run for the Zoo itself first and you can also check out my Pre Race Review.  This ended up being one of my favorite races I have done so far! Held in Albuquerque, New Mexico the Run for the Zoo was an awesome race and the proceeds went to support the Albuquerque Bio Park Society which includes the zoo, the aquarium and the botanic gardens. I signed up for the 10k, but the event also offered a half marathon, 5k timed race and a 5k family run/walk. It seemed like a nicely organized race: lots of volunteers directing you toward wherever you needed to go, plenty of parking – free and pay (well, at least for our race – we walked to our car later and watched people circling to find a spot for the later races), and the all important – plenty of porto potties!  Everything was clearly marked and easy to find. We drove around the night before just to be sure we could find where the race started and where we were going to park, but then again, we were out-of-towners.

Finishers!

The course itself: AWESOME! It was very pretty. The 10k took you a short trip through the neighborhood then along the backside of the zoo where you literally ran right by the elephants! I thought that was sweet (but smelly)! Next, you turn to run on Tingley Drive which was very cute/pretty itself running along small little parks, ponds and by the Country Club. This part of the city was beautiful! After a couple turnarounds, you continue through the surrounding neighborhoods and end right in front of the zoo. The terrain was mostly asphalt with a little bit of gravel in the beginning. Also, it was pretty flat the whole way – not that I’m complaining. I really liked the course!

The RUN itself: Felt amazing! So, I already hinted that I set an awesome PR: My chip time was 51 minutes flat! You don’t know how ecstatic I am about this! OK, I know that the elevation is lower, but still! My previous PR for 10k was 1:01:19 during the Bolder Boulder last year. I ran this race in 51 minutes. That’s 10 minutes knocked off! That’s awesome to me! I feel very accomplished. This is the best I’ve ever felt running. No hip pain (phew), no soreness. I breathed heavily of course, but I never felt horrible…..maybe it was the altitude, or lack there of, but I don’t care! I’m so proud of my PR. I also took 4th out of 87 in my age group/gender; 36/536 for females; 163/986 total. My friend ran it with me and also did very well! I am running the Bolder Boulder 10k again this year in a couple of weeks, and I’m really curious to see how well I do. It will be a great comparison to see how much the lack of altitude really did contribute to my PR or if I’m just that much more in shape awesome!

The Zoo!

The Post Race: We had some race provided snacks (fruit, granola bars, bagels and gatorade) and well as a free Popsicle (my favorite snack) and the best part about this whole event…….. The zoo! We got free admission to the zoo and stretched our muscles post race by walking around and seeing all the animals. Great way to end the day, well, afternoon. We then hauled it 7 hours back home.

Overall, it was a great trip! It was a little too short for a vacation, but enough to sample Albuquerque. I got to taste some food, see parts of the town, and I even met up with fellow blogger Amy who writes Lavender Parking! We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a margarita. Now, back to the real world…….

UPDATES! 

Next weekend, I actually DON’T have a race! This will be the first weekend I have off after running races three weekends in a row. I’m tempted to last minute register for a Mother’s day race but haven’t decided yet. But I’m back at it for sure with the Rugged Maniac on May 19th.

Check out my Project page: I have two states colored in now!! hahaha

Question for my regular readers: I didn’t talk too much about my actually trip….for those of you who read my blog regularly, would you like to hear about the travel parts of it??? Or just the running stuff…let me know!