Welcome to another great Wild Workout Wednesday Link Up where Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Jen from Pretty Little Grub, Michelle at Fruition Fitness and I bring you workout ideas, motivation, inspiration and recipes to try. Join us each week by reading along, linking up and grab the button to proudly display on your blog/in your posts!
Were you following me on Instagram and/or Snapchat last weekend? If so, you may have seen me dressed up like a ridiculous banana.
I took over the Del Monte Fresh Instagram and Snapchat accounts for the morning to cover the Austin Gorilla Run!
What is the Austin Gorilla Run?
The Austin Gorilla Run is a 5K benefitting The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund. Mountain Gorillas are one of our closest relatives, sharing 98.6% of our DNA. This makes them a close link to mankind, and this fund helps keep these animals from extinction.
Why do you dress up as Gorillas and Bananas?
Mountain Gorillas only live in the wild in Africa, but since most people can't make it to the jungles of Africa, this race brings the jungles to Austin! When you register, you can choose to be a gorilla or a banana (because gorillas need bananas to fuel their running, of course!) and you get to keep your costume!
Alright, so let me tell you about the race!
Packet pick up started on Wednesday evening. It was held at a different location each night. I opted to pick up my packet the morning of the race, and it was a breeze. I got my banana costume ahead of time from Del Monte Fresh, but I still needed my bib and swag bag. Will also needed to snag his bib and gorilla costume, which he looked totally creepy awesome in.
The swag bags included a Thirsty Planet pint glass, some Gorilla Glue and a whole bunch of great coupons from local Austin businesses.
The night before, I laid out a very... um... unique flat runner:
...and set my alarm for a 7am wake up. I slipped into my very appeeling outfit and Will and I headed out.
It was in the low 40s on race morning (what the heck, Texas?), so standing around wasn't too fun. Fortunately, there was a lot of entertainment to take our minds off the weather.
There were drink stations already set up offering beer, mimosas, and water. Yep, beer before the race! Will and I opted out of pre-race drinks, but I did chow down on a banana. Does that make me a cannibal?
There was also a pre-race costume contest. Keep in mind, everyone was already in costume as either a gorilla or a banana, so this was a costume on top of a costume! One of my favorite costume groups was a gorilla dresses as the Wicked Witch of the West surrounded by a bunch of gorillas dressed as the Wizard of Oz monkeys. There was also a group of under-the-sea gorillas (a starfish gorilla, a jelly fish gorilla, a shark gorilla, etc). It was hilarious.
My phone decided it was too cold to function mid-way through the costume contest. Since I was there to share the experience on Del Monte Fresh's accounts, this was no good. Fortunately Will's phone stayed strong and I was able to use his for the remainder of the events. Add that to the tally of why I will not be getting another iPhone.
Anyway...
Soon enough, it was time to gather at the start line. A guy came on to explain the course. It was out-and-back. He said something along the lines of, "You'll run through this field and make a right. Then you'll see someone with a flag, and you'll go left. Then you'll go down a ways until you see a guy with a burrito. You eat the burrito and inside you'll find a piece of paper directing you where to go next."
Ok... there was no burrito, but the directions were so confusing that there might as well have been. All we had to do was follow the cones and the few people that were stationed directing us where to turn. It was a simple out-and-back course.
Will hadn't run more than a mile in I couldn't tell you how long, but he rocked out the 3.1 like a champ. He was a bit hot in his gorilla suit, but I guess that's the life a monkey leads.
My banana suit was a breeze to run in. I just had to lower the hood as it kept pushing my hair into my eyes.
It was so fun to see everyone dressed up and to see the fun twists people put on their costumes. There were even kids dressed as mini gorillas! It was too cute.
Before we knew it, we were making our way back to the finish line. WOOT!
This race was untimed, and I forgot to turn my TomTom on, so I have no idea how long it took. What I do know is that we had a blast!
The post race party was awesome, especially for such a long race. After crossing the finish, we were handed bottles of water and Bearded Brothers Energy Bars. There was more beer and cocktails. Will got a taco from Third Base Austin. There was a BBQ food truck. There was music. It was awesome!
This was my first race since moving to Austin, and I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to discover more local races and look forward to doing this one again next year. Maybe I'll enter the costume contest!
Before you go, be sure to check out the Wild Workout Wednesday Link Up. Full link up rules can be found here.
Let's Chat:
Have you ever run in costume?
What's your favorite local race?
