Race Review: Run for the Zoo Virtual 10K 🦁

Disclaimer: I received a registration to review the 2020 Run for the Zoo Virtual 10k as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

It feels so great to be writing a race review again! I have been missing racing so much these last few months, and I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to virtually participate in the 2020 Run for the Zoo! This race is usually based in Chicago at the Lincoln Park Zoo, but due to the pandemic they were not able to have the race in person. Instead of cancelling the event outright, they opted to make the virtual and open it up to runners from all over!

The Run for the Zoo has been running for 42 years and all proceeds directly benefit the animals that live at the Lincoln Park Zoo, as well as ensures that the facility can stay free and open to the Chicago community. I really love running races that have a direct charitable cause, and especially one that directly benefits animals. Upon registration, you had the opportunity to make an additional donation to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and if you donated at least $25, you would earn a commemorative medal, pictured below!

Runners had until June 7th to register, and then had the chance to run their miles between June 7th and June 21st. I love that they gave runners some flexibility in when they could run their miles for their race. I opted to run my race on the 7th - the date the race was originally scheduled for - so that I could keep it as close to the actual race experience as possible. It was great because a lot of my fellow BibRave Pros were also running on the morning of the 7th and having a blast. It was so fun to check in with everyone on the Slack channel after the run!

As you can tell from my #flatrunner above, I definitely rocked some zoo-themed attire. I bought these awesome mint zebra striped shorts from Fabletics, and also picked up a lion tail and some lion ears from Amazon! Since we can't come together to race in-person, I wanted to make the day as fun and as festive as possible. I may or may not have gotten some funny looks from everyone out on their Sunday morning walks, but I know they weren't having as much fun as I was! 😋

The run itself could not have gone more smoothly. I didn't want to push too hard, as the week leading up to the race was particularly stressful at work and I have been having some trouble with foot pain lately, but I listened to my body and ran at the pace that felt good in the moment. I ended up running 10K in under and hour which is *so* good for me so I am thrilled with my time, and I am also so happy with how I felt throughout the run!

Look at those sub-10s across the board! 😁

Submitting your times to the race was super easy. I don't think I've done this before for a virtual race (I usually just sign up and run the miles and it's all based on honor system) so I wasn't really sure what to expect. When you sign up you get a confirmation number for your registration, like most races. Once you're done running, you needed to hop on to the Run for the Zoo website, look up your confirmation number, enter your race time, then put up proof of your run. I uploaded the first Garmin screenshot above for my proof. If you don't have a GPS watch, you can always use a free run tracking app - there are dozens out there! Once I hit submit on my time, I could officially say that I had completed the Run for the Zoo!

All participants of this race received a participant tech shirt, which I ended up wearing for the rest of the afternoon as a symbol of achievement! It's a super comfy, loose-fitting tech tee (which I prefer!) and I know that it will easily fit into my running attire rotation. Here's an image of what it looks like, because for whatever reason I didn't take a photo of myself for the rest of the day on Sunday. 😂

Overall, running the Run for the Zoo virtual 10k was a great experience! The crew at Lincoln Park Zoo that managed this event communicated with participants so well, and I never felt confused about what I needed to do in order to complete the race. I'm sure that coming together and racing in person in Chicago would have been exponentially more fun, but I so appreciate everything that the Lincoln Park Zoo did for its runners and pivoting so seamlessly to a virtual race. This is a great organization and race to run for, so I definitely recommend signing up for their 2021 race!

Thank you again to both BibRave and the Lincoln Park Zoo for allowing me to run this race!

I am (finger crossed) going to be in Chicago this fall for the Chicago Marathon, so I might try to swing by the Lincoln Park Zoo for a little visit while I'm out there! 💗