Sun, Sep 9, 2012 - 5K - 00:23:21
5K Tierpark Race with Whole Family
An awesome family run day with beautiful weather and a very organized race through the Berlin Animal Park. We all ran our guts out, but the surprise athlete of the day was 8-year-old Hannah who beat both Karla and Gisela with a time of 00:30:40. Gisela got her best 5K time with a 00:31:07 and Karla came in not too far behind with a 00:32:55. I got a decent time of 00:23:21 which put me in 4th of 36 in my age group. And since noone had ever run through a zoo before, it was a first-time experience for all of us. 
 
warm-up run to the s-bahn: 
 
preparations along the way: 
 
destination reached: 
 
Starting line was Friedrichsfelde Castle, built in 1695 and the Tierpark around it built in the 1950s so that the east side of the divided city would have a zoo as well: 
 
 
 
family photo, matching shirts = 80€ and worth every penny: 
 
family stretching in the statue garden: 
 
 
 
 
 
time to run: 
 
I started third row, girls started a bit further back: 
 
And we're off through the park to scare the animals! I remember at about 1K a herd of agitated water buffalo galloping up to the fence all sniffing in the air wondering if there was a fire, or if there was a lion in the forest or something: 
 
 
 
 
 
Right from the beginning I got behind this 12-year-old kid and used him as a pace rabbit. I assumed he had started off too fast and so throughout the race I was thinking of something wise and encouraging I could say to him as I passed him, but at 2K he was still ahead of me, at 3K he was still ahead of me, and at 4K he took off and I never saw him again: 
 
 
 
 
 
finish line and ice cream reward: 
 
after the race we took went off through the zoo to go find our official team mascots: 
 
Karla and I ran for the snow owls with a combined time of 00:56:39 and placed 25th out of 69 teams: 
 
Hannah and Gisela ran for the giraffes with a combined time of 1:02:28 and placed 43rd out of 69 teams: 
 
The animals have it good here, this zoo is one of the most spacious of Europe, 400 acres of sculpted park. Here are the flamingos in their "cage": 
 
And the dromedary camel out on his lawn: 
 
In all, it was an awesome day and proof of the saying: "a family that runs together, runs together":