The Nashville Joggler

This is a race report for the Nashville Zoo Run on January 23, 2010.

I am definitely not a morning person, so I was excited about the 3pm start time for the Nashville Zoo Run.  Traffic getting in to the zoo was horribly backed up, so Alison and I parked across the street from the zoo to make sure we got in before the start (which they ended up delaying 15 minutes due to the traffic).

For some reason, I was really nervous before the race.  It may have been because the temperature was on the low end for shorts and a t-shirt, so I was a little cold.  Or maybe because I ate lunch a little too late.  But whatever it was, it quickly wore off after the race started.  Because the race went through the zoo, the paths were narrower than usual for a race of this size.  I seem to always start a little too far back, wanting to avoid getting in the way of the faster runners.  I spent a little more energy than I wanted to in the beginning trying to weave through to find some open space.

This was my first time inside the Nashville Zoo, and I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to look around very much.  At one point, there was a narrow, crowded, and slippery bridge, so I stopped juggling briefly.  I looked off to the side and saw a white tiger next to me.  Awesome.

The course was a little tricky, as it switched between pavement, cement, gravel, wooden bridges, and even bamboo.  There were a couple sharp turns that made for interesting joggling, but I managed to make it through without any drops.

A few minutes after passing the two mile point, I lost track of my pace and had no idea how much farther I had to go.  I think I pushed myself a little too much, and had to slow down a little before I could see the finish line.  Fortunately, I ended up finishing with a time of 25:52, setting a new PR by 7 seconds.

After the race, there was salad, spaghetti, and beer.  Food was pretty bad, but it was free!  I think I’ll probably do this race again next year.  I still haven’t done a race without juggling, but I might consider it next year so that I can take in more of the zoo.

photo by Morgan Levy

This is a race report for Ellie’s Run for Africa on June 13, 2009.

When my friend Janna told me about this race, I knew it was going to be a great one.  A race started five years ago by a 10-year old girl with a dream, taking place in Percy Warner Park, and raising money for African Leadership!  Count me in.

At first, I thought the course would be on one of the trails, so I was preparing myself for my first non-joggling race.  But then, I realized it would be on the cross-country course, so I was back in joggling mode.  This was my first race since the half-marathon, so I was pretty excited about doing a 5k.  About half a year ago, this would have been a big deal, but I was now able to go into the race relaxed and ready to have fun.

Although it wasn’t a trail course, the hilly, rocky cross-country course took a little while to get used to while juggling.  I quickly realized that I needed to look down through my juggling pattern instead of straight ahead so that I could navigate the terrain.  After the initial crowd of runners thinned out a bit, I found my rhythm and was really enjoying the run.

Part of the course doubled over itself near the finish line, so I passed a large crowd of spectators about half way through.  As I ran past them cheering, I tried to maintain eye contact with the crowd for a bit too long and dropped a ball.  That ended up being my only drop the entire race.  Hopefully I’ll be able to complete a drop-less 5k soon!

Towards the end of the third mile, there was a hole in the ground that I didn’t see until it was almost too late.  Luckily, I was able to adjust my landing just enough so that I didn’t twist my ankle, even though I ended up landing my foot in it and nearly lost control of one of the balls.  After that, I picked up my speed to the finish line, trying to come in under 30 minutes.  I thought I did, but I guess I did not see the placement of the finish line sensor correctly and slowed up to early.  That will teach me to run through the finish line!  I ended up with a time of 30:19, which I’m pretty happy with, but would definitely like to improve upon.

And congratulations to Janna, who finished 8th in her age group!