Memorial Day No Excuses 5k, 1/4 mile Fun Run

The race was on from the moment we left the house this morning, about 25 minutes later than we were supposed to, to drive to Sacramento for the Buzz Oates No Excuses 5k. The 5k was for me, but today was a big day for Sean and Ashton, as it was their first race! They were super excited about it, and practiced running around the "entire" playground at school, and checked in periodically (read: every 5 minutes), "Everyone gets a medal, right?" Kevin drove us to Sac, and we met up with Chris, Abby and Hannah, and Dave. Both Chris and Dave ran the 5k, and Dave even ran most of it with me. 3 out of 4 members is not a bad showing for Team Library Dork! :)

We made it to the race in just enough time to pick up our three bibs (the boys' and mine), find the rest of the group, pin on bibs, tie shoes and get to the start line. The boys are pictured above, before the race with their bibs on, and all excited- Ashton is all in red.

Now, just look at the above photo. Notice anything? Like how much taller my boys are than all of the other children? I went straight to the Active.com site and it didn't say anything about age limits for the different lengths, so I thought I'd sign them up for the shortest distance since it's their first race. Did I bother to check the actual even website? Probably not. Then I hear the announcer say that this is the quarter mile for the 5 and unders! Oops! By this time it was too late to pull them out and get it straightened out. So they ran.

And they won! Of course they did!

Ashton came in first,

with Sean right behind him. I was so proud of them, for running so hard, even if they could (should) have run the half mile. :) And the very best part: participation medals! Here are the three of us with our bibs on, just after their race (and before mine):

I did go talk to the race director afterward to make sure that the 3rd place boy will be mailed the plaque for first place, 'cause that's really not fair that he was competing with 6 year olds. And if you look, you can see him just behind Sean!

Next up, the 5k. The morning was beautiful, and just a bit cool- perfect sunny running conditions! Dave and I settled into our paces pretty quickly, and kept up a nice quickish clip. I was careful to assess how my back was feeling after the morning's long drive, and our faster pace, and decided it was okay to keep it up. The sun started to warm us up a bit, and by the time we finished, I was wishing I had my shorts on instead of capri-length running pants. But there was SO much oxygen, and I felt my lungs filling full with each breath, and I was able to keep my pace through to the finish, even though I was a little warm. I checked the results page (only the 5k was posted) and saw that I came in at 369 (what an awesome number!!!). I timed myself at 26:17, which was about a minute faster than I was expecting, after dragging through the Moms on the Run 5k I ran with Dave on Mother's Day a mere 2 weeks ago, with my slowest PR of 27 and change (I didn't register early, so I wasn't timed). I came in just ahead of Dave (this time!), but a full 10 minutes behind Chris. Yay Chris! He ran it in 16:32, and was pleased with his time. Chris was 4th overall, but only 32nd with the strange age-graded times they calculated (mine was 22:55! Whoo hoo! Now THAT would be an awesome PR to have!).

After the race, we all headed to the River City Brewing Co. for lunch. They have great food, and even better beer! I took a small sip of each of the samplers, and liked at least 3 of them- enough that I'd sit and drink a full glass of, if I were in the mood, and had some pizza to go with it.

Kevin got a liter of the Hefeweizen, which was my favorite- it had an almost lemony finish.

Then, we were off to the Sacramento Zoo! I got to impress everyone (or so I like to think) with all my trivial knowledge of random animals. We saw red pandas, various species of lemur (my favorite right after snow and spotted leopards!), giraffes, flamingos,

a snow leopard (of which I didn't get a picture of this time because he was mostly hiding in the foliage), and the tiger! Ashton LOVES tigers! I think he could have stood there watching the tiger all day long. "I wrote my animal report on tigers Mommy!" Me: "Yes, I know. We researched databases online last week about tigers, didn't we?" :)

And of course, we just HAD to take a break for the carousel! Sean chose the great Bald Eagle,

and I persuaded Ashton to climb up on the snow leopard:

I didn't think to take a picture of all of our group together, so here is a random shot of Dave yawning:

What a great day! I ran (with minimum protesting from my lower back), the boys got to run their first race, we tried out a new restaurant that I'll be sure to return to next time I go through Sac, and I got to take the boys to the zoo! And as an extra special bonus, I played leap-frog with a Lambourghini for about an hour on I-80 on the way home:

Snow Leopard at the Sacramento Zoo

Yes, another zoo this summer! The Sacramento Zoo wasn't crowded at all- almost all of the other visitors were moms with their little ones in strollers. Have you noticed I'm an animal nut yet? Well, I have dozens of pictures of all the animals we saw, but I took the most (*gasp!*) pictures of the snow leopard. So this blog is dedicated to pictures just of her (at least, I think it was a her). So sit back, and enjoy the show!

It was hot today (can you tell?)- in the upper 80's, low 90's. Snow leopards live in the highest parts of the Himalayan Mountains and they love the thin frozen air. They have special large nasal cavities that circulates the air to warm it before it goes into their lungs. They also have huge round paws, with thick tufts of fur in between each toe and surrounding the foot pad. The size is to help them walk on the snow without breaking the crust, and the fur tufts are to protect and warm their puddie-paw-pads. :)

Here is my goofy Ashton in the foreground.

Doesn't she have beautiful spots? Do you know the difference between a leopard and a jaguar? Jaguars have a spot in the center of their rosettes, where leopards have empty circles. This applies to all leopards, not just the snowy kind.

Here is another picture panting in the shade- aren't her eyes piercing and lovely?

This picture shows the length of her tail. A snow leopard's beautiful bushy tail is as long as it's body- about 3 feet. They use their tails for balance on those high rocky precipices, and also because chasing the bharal they love to eat can gallop down a hill at full speed and change direction instantaneously, so the snow leopard uses its tail as a sort of "rudder" to change direction to follow their prey. They also use their tails to wrap around their bodies when they sleep for warmth and cover their nose and mouth to warm the air they breath.

Check out this profile- isn't she beautiful?

While I'm at it, here is a link to the Snow Leopard Trust site. If you'd like to learn more about snow leopards and their habitat, send a free snow leopard e-card, or purchase cool stuff to help support this endangered animal (there are only an estimated 3-7000 left in the wild), this is one of my favorite places to go.

Finally, I have one more treat for you- a video clip! Yeah! So graceful, even in the hot humid weather.