Wild Place Project 5k fun run

Wild Place Project is a subsidiary of the Bristol Zoological Gardens and opened its doors to the public in 2013.  With a particular stress on preserving endangered habitats, there are several species to see from wolves to okapi, and lots of playgrounds dotted along the way for younger children.  It also boasts themed walks, climbing walls and other outdoor activities.
Wild Place Project isn't as well known as the zoo, but it's worth a visit especially as it's just half the price of the latter.

Wild Place Project is currently raising funds to build a new enclosure so they can house giraffes.  To this end, this year they hosted their first 5k run.  I signed up as it's not often you get an opportunity to go for a run around a zoo!  Registering for the run included entry for 3 guests, so my parents came up and enjoyed the attraction too.

I haven't run a race since before I had Rowan, so I thought 5k would be a nice return to running (especially since I don't get time to train - I think I've been running twice in the last month).
The start of the run took us past the wolves.  They were running up and down the length of their enclosure watching the runners with interest.  Wolves are my favourite animal, so this was undoubtedly the best bit of the run for me!  The wolves were probably responding to a predatory instinct, but it was still exciting to see them up close.
The route then took us down a muddy track as the gradient dropped.  Downhill is a good thing when running, but only on the return journey!  I remember thinking that facing the uphill section would really bite when we reached it, and I wasn't wrong!  I ended up walking a few sections as the terrain was so muddy I think I would have ended up sprawled over the ground if I ran it (plus, I was tired at that point).

It was a tough run, more cross-country than I was expecting.  But there was a nice sense of comradery among the runners.

This was a nice if misleadingly hard run.  I would definitely do it again though.

 At the finishing line

Whilst I was running Rowan spent his time obsessively on the bouncy castle.  Gareth did get a couple of photos of him, but they are bit blurry:

Boing!

After the run we had a pleasant walk around some of the site.  The meerkats were particularly endearing, and seemed very curious when people were around their enclosure.  Rowan seemed quite taken with them too, as you could get right up close to them.

Contented meerkats

There were lots of points of interest throughout the site, which was marvelous for maintaining an easily distracted toddler's attention.

Rowan loved this zebra jeep. He wasn't as impressed with

the real zebras. The zoologist in me weeps a little. 

 

 Terrifying driving - he's not even

watching the road!

 

 Big game

Mum and Dad mid-stroll

Santas on the run

Rowan is running his first race on 15 December (well, actually I'll be pushing him along in his pram, but he insisted on entering) to raise money for Children's Hospice South West. It's the 2km 'Santas on the Run' race, so everyone will be dressed as Santa. If you would like to donate please click on the attached link (it's the IOPP team Just Giving page).

http://www.justgiving.com/IOPPsantas

Monthly update

I've realised it's been a month since my last post. I'm really going to have to either stop apologising for not updating, or just get better at posting regularly.

We have reached a point with the house buying where nothing seems to be happening, but there's a lot going on in the background (i.e. legal searches).  There was a bit of a delay as the vendors hadn't instructed their solicitors for three weeks.  There was a miscommunication between them from what I gather, but thankfully things are progressing.
It's looking more like we will move in early November, so a bit later than we'd have liked but still way before the baby arrives.

Pregnancy-wise everything is going well. I'm still getting bouts of nausea but it's a lot better than the early weeks.  The movements are very strong now, and at times it can be uncomfortable. I don't mind this since it means the baby is active and well.  I'm not saying I wouldn't appreciate it if it would stop bouncing around on my bladder though.  I'm getting to a stage where running is getting uncomfortable, so I think I will have to stop altogether soon - I'm finding it hard weaning off completely!  I feel really unfit at the moment, although I know that's pregnancy-related.  Walking up stairs leaves me feeling like I've sprinted a mile with no warm-up!  I walk for 1hr40mins a day, do yoga once a week and a pregnancy fitness DVD once a week, so I doubt I am actually as unfit as I feel just now.

Tangent's credit

As Tangent went on all of my training runs with me for the 10k, but obviously could not run the actual race, I thought it only fair to share my medal with him:

Not looking terribly impressed.

Bristol 10K

Well, after not really taking the training for Bristol 10k particulary seriously (we're talking beer most evenings and take aways in the week leading up to the run, as well as neglecting to actually run for about two weeks before) I ran the whole thing in 1 hour and 6 minutes. Definately not an Olympian effort, but I was still happy with it. It has made me wondering what my time may have been if I'd actually trained. But then it is always easy to say 'I didn't really train/revise etc.' after the event! A combination of the euphoria of completing my longest race to date and guilt for not really taking it seriously, has spurred me on to consider running the Bristol half-marathon in September - I sure as hell won't be able to get away with not training for that one!

Update

Once again, apologies for the long duration between posts!
There hasn't really been much going, hence the lack of blogging material! Tales of life working in a bank does not make for a gripping read.

Tangent has been going to the dog club up here for about 6 weeks now and he loves it! I'm quite relieved that he enjoys training as I was starting to wonder if he would take to the Obedience side of things or not. Turns out he was just a bit lazy; with the motivator of livercake and not being fed his meal till after training, that no longer poses an issue!

I'm just recovering from a stinking cold. Gareth would be the first to tell you that I don't do ill very well - I'm not ill very often, and this is the first cold I've had in about a year. I admit, I do not bear illness with grace! I can get pretty stroppy about the mildest of things. Although the irritation of not being able to run because of it is very genuine. It's been about 5 weeks since my last run, and I'm desparate to go running soon, but not keen to see how much fitness I've lost!

Rambling

The administration specialist job interview went well (apart from shredding my feet - see previous post). I should hear back next week. They interviewed 40 people for 5 positions, so roughly a 1 in 10 chance of getting it if I ignore any actual personal aptitudes!

Gareth's cousin's wedding was really nice too. They looked so happy! It was also good seeing the rest of Gareth's family, as we don't really see a lot of them. I also did my first night motorway drive too. It was a bit daunting at first, and I'm glad it was only half an hour of actual motorway, but I'm glad I've finally got around to doing it before I built it up into a major issue!
The next day, we took the dogs to Leigh woods where I managed to hit the 5 mile target for my running (my longest run has only been about 4 miles before now). I was pretty pleased, and Tangent was exhausted by the end! He didn't even want to play in the evening which is a rarity for him.