Walk on the Wild Side

Being the very serious runner that I am, I decided yesterday that a trip to the zoo was a must, you know so I could pre-screen the course and such.

Ok, maybe it was just because I REALLY wanted to go the zoo...and the boy's family had free passes! Plus, remember how cute the boy is with his nieces?! I couldn't pass it up.

We were scheduled to meet the family for breakfast at 9AM, so I set the alarm for 7 the night before and got my run in before all the festivities began. I did a semi-speed run (mostly just ran fast because I knew I would catch crap if we ran late for breakfast because I had to run). Here are the splits:

Mile One: 8:45

Mile Two: 8:30

Mile Three: 8:28

Mile Four: 8:20

Mile Five: 8:08

I have been working on booking it at the end and pushing myself to finish hard. I think this will help me out in races, because usually I struggle to finish hard by the end.

After the run it was speed-ready time! This was made way easier by my awesome new haircut, that doesn't take 30 minutes just to blow dry!

We met up with the fam, had some breakfast, and then headed for some wild and crazy fun at the zoo.

We saw miniature deer (this one was full grown):

Some crazy birds:

Tigers:

And my favorite...the giraffes!

So of course I had to get a picture "beside" of them:

Way to get one out of the 5 giraffes in the picture, hun...I guess he was concentrating on more important things ;)

We saw polar bears:

Peacocks:

and penguins:

And the boys' favorite the apes!

Seriously, this was the situation for about 30 minutes at the ape cages:

Move over boys! Let the children have a turn! 

Oh yeah, we even took cheesy "couples photos" that Mike just LOVES to take.

I tired to take a picture of Tice, but he was a bit camera shy:

After walking around the entire zoo in about 100 degree heat it was about time for a little something to cool off with...thats right, you guessed it...

ICECREAM!! Chocolate, of course. I don't waste my time with vanilla! ;)

The boy eats his cone a little bit more gracefully than me.

Oh yeah, and slushies help out with the whole hydration in the heat thing too...

After a long day at the zoo, we were all ready to come home and crash. Except I kinda wanted to shop, so I forced the boy to take me to the nearest sporting goods store to scope out some running gear. (its sad how obsessed I am).

I guess it just wasn't my day, because I didn't find anything that I just HAD to have. However, the boy did pick up a massive amount of fishing gear!

And what happens when you give a boy fishing gear?

He'll want to take you fishing.

Which is just fine when you are ending an already perfect day with a beautiful sunset and a view like this:

And a few more cheesy couple pictures. (Hey, it comes with the territory, right?)

 

 

What is your favorite way to spend an entire off?

What is your favorite zoo animal?