Remember how I bought that new camera so I could take more pictures for the blog? I failed 😦

On Sunday I ran the Make Tracks for the Zoo 5k race. This is my review.

Pre-Race

Since this event was held at the St. Louis Zoo, and that’s were they had packet pick-up, I waited until race day to get my packet.  First off, I thought this was a pretty good deal as far as races go, considering it only cost $18 for early bird registration, while most 5k races cost between $20 to $40 dollars. I woke up early and tried to head out early but I wound up arriving to the Zoo around 6:30. I was able to park at no cost in the South lot, which was nice considering they had only advertised free parking in the North Lot, but that was all blocked off from the direction I came.

Once I got into the park, I was able to find the packet pick up area thanks to many signs they had put up along the way. Packet pick up went smoothly, and I had my t-shirt, bib chip, and safety pins in a matter of minutes. I was then able to exchange my shirt for a different size, and then I debated for a long time as to whether or not I wanted to try to make it back to my car to drop everything off or just tough it out and wear the shirt on the course.

I chose to wear the shirt and threw away everything else, which really wasn’t much-just a plastic bag and two little cards about up coming zoo events. I then made my way down to the start line so I could stretch and wait for the race to start.

The Race/Course

The start and finish were in the same spot, so it was basically a big loop around Forest Park. The only issue that I had was that the start line wasn’t anywhere close to the banner that said start and finish. So I wound up starting my watch waayy early. The course wound through Forest Park, and it was lovely. Mostly flat with a few little hills. A good mix of sun and shade. They had one water stop that was a little under-manned, but other than that everything was very nice.

Once you finished, you had to walk up a fairly giant hill (thank god we didn’t have to run up it!) and then you could drop off your “breakfast” ticket, which got you a breakfast roll, banana, juice, and a yogurt. I also nabbed a chocolate milk, and there were people eating popsicle but I could never figure out where they were.

Overall

I thought this was a very good race. I would give it a 9 out of 10. I will probably be putting this on my calendar for next year. If you’re looking for a very scenic race at a fun location, I would definitely recommend this one!