• Chicago,
    Illinois,
    United States
  • June
  • 3 miles/5K, 6 miles/10K, Virtual Race
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

See more of our race!

41st Annual Run for the Zoo
June 2, 2019

Thank you for visiting our BibRave page. Run for the Zoo is an annual highlight on the Chicago running calendar. This year, we are excited to roll out NEW USATF-certified chip-timed courses. We are celebrating the 41st annual Run for the Zoo in a big way. Make sure you register soon to get in on this historic event! Run for the Zoo has sold out the last five years.

The 2019 10K and 5K courses will take place in and around the beautiful grounds of Lincoln Park Zoo. They will take racers on a journey winding past winged creatures and racing next to rhinos. After the race, all participants are invited for a post-race celebration on the zoo’s Main Mall.

The 41st annual Run for the Zoo benefits Lincoln Park Zoo and helps to keep it free and open 365 days a year. Your registration helps to provide state-of-the-art animal care, worldwide conservation, and wide-ranging education programs.

RACE HIGHLIGHTS:
• 41st anniversary of one of Chicago’s favorite races.
• USATF-certified, chip-timed courses
• Beautiful route winding through Lincoln Park Zoo’s historic grounds
• TEAM CHALLENGE: Largest team, fastest team, and biggest fundraiser win fun prizes!
• NEW THIS YEAR Participants who donate a minimum of $25 will earn a commemorative medal!
• Limited-edition tech shirt
• Post-race celebration on the zoo’s Main Mall with DJ tunes
• Beer for participants ages 21+

SAFARI STAMPEDE
The Safari Stampede is a mini obstacle course for kids to express their inner animal! Recommended for children ages 3-8 years old can participate in the Safari Stampede, located on the South Lawn near Park Place Cafe. Registration fee required; includes a special event participation shirt!

Back by popular demand, we are having a second wave of Safari Stampede! The first will start at 9 a.m., and the second will start 9:45 a.m.

At checkout, code BIBRAVE will get you a 10% discount!
https://www.lpzoo.org/run-zoo

Come join us as we celebrate 41 years of Run for the Zoo!

Riley Fickett

Massachusetts, United States
15 61
2020
"Race Review: Run for the Zoo Virtual 10K 🦁"
Overall
Race Management
SWAG
Virtual Support
Riley Fickett's thoughts:

Disclaimer: I received a registration to review the 2020 Run for the Zoo Virtual 10k as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

It feels so great to be writing a race review again! I have been missing racing so much these last few months, and I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to virtually participate in the 2020 Run for the Zoo! This race is usually based in Chicago at the Lincoln Park Zoo, but due to the pandemic they were not able to have the race in person. Instead of cancelling the event outright, they opted to make the virtual and open it up to runners from all over!

The Run for the Zoo has been running for 42 years and all proceeds directly benefit the animals that live at the Lincoln Park Zoo, as well as ensures that the facility can stay free and open to the Chicago community. I really love running races that have a direct charitable cause, and especially one that directly benefits animals. Upon registration, you had the opportunity to make an additional donation to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and if you donated at least $25, you would earn a commemorative medal.

Runners had until June 7th to register, and then had the chance to run their miles between June 7th and June 21st. I love that they gave runners some flexibility in when they could run their miles for their race. I opted to run my race on the 7th - the date the race was originally scheduled for - so that I could keep it as close to the actual race experience as possible. It was great because a lot of my fellow BibRave Pros were also running on the morning of the 7th and having a blast. It was so fun to check in with everyone on the Slack channel after the run!

I definitely rocked some zoo-themed attire. I bought these awesome mint zebra striped shorts from Fabletics, and also picked up a lion tail and some lion ears from Amazon! Since we can't come together to race in-person, I wanted to make the day as fun and as festive as possible. I may or may not have gotten some funny looks from everyone out on their Sunday morning walks, but I know they weren't having as much fun as I was! 😋

The run itself could not have gone more smoothly. I didn't want to push too hard, as the week leading up to the race was particularly stressful at work and I have been having some trouble with foot pain lately, but I listened to my body and ran at the pace that felt good in the moment. I ended up running 10K in under and hour which is *so* good for me so I am thrilled with my time, and I am also so happy with how I felt throughout the run!

Submitting your times to the race was super easy. I don't think I've done this before for a virtual race (I usually just sign up and run the miles and it's all based on honor system) so I wasn't really sure what to expect. When you sign up you get a confirmation number for your registration, like most races. Once you're done running, you needed to hop on to the Run for the Zoo website, look up your confirmation number, enter your race time, then put up proof of your run. I uploaded the first Garmin screenshot above for my proof. If you don't have a GPS watch, you can always use a free run tracking app - there are dozens out there! Once I hit submit on my time, I could officially say that I had completed the Run for the Zoo!

All participants of this race received a participant tech shirt, which I ended up wearing for the rest of the afternoon as a symbol of achievement! It's a super comfy, loose-fitting tech tee (which I prefer!) and I know that it will easily fit into my running attire rotation.

Overall, running the Run for the Zoo virtual 10k was a great experience! The crew at Lincoln Park Zoo that managed this event communicated with participants so well, and I never felt confused about what I needed to do in order to complete the race. I'm sure that coming together and racing in person in Chicago would have been exponentially more fun, but I so appreciate everything that the Lincoln Park Zoo did for its runners and pivoting so seamlessly to a virtual race. This is a great organization and race to run for, so I definitely recommend signing up for their 2021 race!

Thank you again to both BibRave and the Lincoln Park Zoo for allowing me to run this race!
I am (finger crossed) going to be in Chicago this fall for the Chicago Marathon, so I might try to swing by the Lincoln Park Zoo for a little visit while I'm out there! 💗

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