Toronto Oasis ZooRun 10k recap

This event was the second race for my 13yr old son, but with the high-school year starting and the late summer, his training was less than desired. Regardless, he was excited to run the 10k and especially in the Toronto Zoo which would have enough distractions on the course to keep his mind busy.

We made this a family trip, as a friend who works at the Zoo offered us a behind the scenes tour after the race, and with my wife a teacher, this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The post-race event was kept a secret from the kids so they all thought they were going to watch the race and visit the animals while we were running. We all got up early, ate breakfast and piled in the van for the 90min drive. The roads were packed and the parking lot was full so we jumped out and headed to the bag check and start line with a lot of time to spare as the organizers moved the start time back half an hour to accommodate runners stuck in traffic.

Kris and I were in the red (first) corral as we expected to finish in around 50min, but I could sense his tension being up front and within minutes of starting he started to get cramps. This has been common for him, as he always struggles with his breathing early in races but after walking to let the rest of the runners in the red corral pass we started back up and kept a good pace.

By the time we re-entered the Zoo grounds he was running as his usual pace and looked comfortable so we kept going determined to keep going and finish with the second wave of runners. As we ran through various exhibits it was cool seeing the animals and all of the runners but the highlight was running past the camels who decided to run with us as we went by… I even heard later than one overly excited dromedary tried to jump a small fence to keep going… I wonder what his finish time would have been.

The course wound along the grounds with a very hilly climbs but nothing that would be larger than what we trained on, so it was merely a matter of distance and stamina that would be a factor. Kris kept going and we talked often about the run, how he was feeling, and what he wanted to do, and he wanted to keep going and knew that there was going to only be a little bit more to go.

The volunteers were very helpful reminding us of oncoming runners when there were shared paths as well as giving heads ups for upcoming hills and valleys and always with words of encouragement.

Before we knew it, we had the finish line in sight, and I asked him if he was good to go, and before I heard his answer, he took off for the finish line with a burst finishing strong but exhausted in 57.36 with me trailing behind by a second.

I am so proud of him for running through his anxiety over the race, and toughing out w tough course and I love pacing and coaching him along the way.

This is a great event and I encourage anyone to give it a try at either the 5k or the 10k distance.

The post-race food was a welcome sight and then we met up with family and my friend and his wife who also ran, and we began the facility tour. We managed to get a behind the scenes look at the medical centre, and saw a poor bird with a broken beak about to go into surgery. We saw the plans for the future expansion and then made the trek to the highlight of the day… a 1 on 1 visit in the penguin exhibit. We managed to spend about 20 minutes with Scooby Doo and 2 handlers/trainers who answered our questions and had us up close to this amazing bird. We learned so much and got to unwind after the run with an incredibly interactive event we will never forget.