Race Report: 2 By 2 Rebuild the Zoo 2.5k Fun Run

Tonight, my little family (plus my mother in law) all headed out to the Grand Reopening of the Shawnessy Running Room.   When Tina first told me about this little fun run, I didn't think it would be possible for us to attend with our long commute, but then I discussed it with Hubby and we decided the 2.5k would be a fun one for us to do with the girlies.

It was $10 and all of the fee would go towards the Zoo's rebuilding efforts.

Plus - there were to be medals for all of the finishers!  You know me...<cough>medalwhore<couch>

So, after some family carb loading at IHOP (note to self: do not eat the red velvet pancakes as a dinner...it's like saying cupcakes are dinner and you are now too old for such nonsense), we headed over to the Shawnessy Running Room to meet up with Hubby's mom and Michelle and Tina, who were running the 5k.

I grabbed our bibs and the girls were so excited to choose their own numbers and get them pinned on (though Doodle was not happy I was poking holes in her dress)

The whole thing was supposed to kick off with a ribbon cutting for the Shawnessy Grand Re-opening and then the race could be on it's way.  

6:30 came and went.  then 6:45 came and went.  We killed time by dancing to Tarzan Dan and taking loads of photos.

It was nearly 7 by the time we were shuffled over to the start arch.

It was hard to hear what was being said over the megaphones, but with very little fanfare, we were soon walking painfully slowly through the archway.  As we were walking, Michelle and Tina decided they were going to stick with us for the 2.5k and just have a slow fun one.

Across the parking lot and then out to the sidewalk.

We had pretty much resigned ourselves to this being the slowest 2.5k in history.  When we had a moment to breakaway, we totally did

Soon, the grand plan started to become clear as the crowd poured into this little greenspace on the other side of the tracks.

No arch, but this was apparently the real start line.

With the sound of an airhorn, we were off for real.  Buggie has all the makings of a racer...she took off like a flash with the crowd.  Little miss independent.

The race followed a public pathway, but the path was very congested at the start so we ran along the grass beside to get past the crowds.  Soon things had thinned out enough that we could move to the path.

Doodle was complaining that her hip hurt so we would run a little then walk a while.  Some piggybacking happened.   Every now and then, there would be a burst of energy and both girls would blast ahead with us adults on their heels.  Or they would doubleback to hold hands and help us old fogies along.

Pretty soon it was time to turn around

Energy was waning on the return trip and we ended up doing a fair bit of piggybacking.  Michelle even took on some piggyback racing duties...

and then, there was the finish line.  Bug crossed it on hubby's shoulder, but Dood crossed on her own

We crossed in around 23:30...meaning that for the first time, we averaged under 10mins/km instead of our usual 16...

and then there was the long trek back to the store so we could collect our medals.  The whole way, the twins chattered about wanting to run the race again and how awesome it was.

Back at the store, John Stanton was there handing out medals...

They were generic running room medals, but geesh, you'd think those midgets just won the olympics by how proud they were of them.

Afterwards, there was an assortment of drink options (water, coconut water, flavoured water) and pizza and cake.

We couldn't stay long because Cancerhound had been at home all day waiting for us to come home and we had a bladder to rescue.   So we were soon on our way.

Despite the organizational challenges with this run, it was still really fun to do as a group and with kids.  We liked supporting a great cause and getting active with our little family.  The girls also loved having my friends around to run with...I think spending time with my runner girls helps cement the importance of being active and really ups the fun factor.  Those two really pulled out all the stops to make this as fun as possible for those two little midges.  <3  my runner girls.

Would I do another weekday Running Room fun run?  Undecided.  It was fun, but with our commute it makes it hard - especially when things aren't exactly on a tight schedule.  And the medal - nothing to write home about but I couldn't really complain for a $10 charity race.  I think for someone without the commuting constraints we have and who lives in the neighbourhood the race is in - it is a fun way to support your community.