Unleash your inner child and Run For The Wild!

If you caught my Instagram stories this weekend, you probably noticed that Ben and I woke up at the crack of dawn (post Arriba Arriba + margaritas, I may add) to catch a Bronx bound 2 train. (See below if you missed them!) We were on our merry way to the Bronx Zoo to join in on the Wildlife Conservation Society’s 10th annual Run For The Wild 5k. I thought I would bring you some more deets about the BEST 5K YOU WILL EVER RUN IN YOUR LIFE because I got so many questions about it! Yes, it’s true that you could pretty much run about four individual 5ks in the amount of time it takes to get up to the Zoo, but hey, the route, the awesome crowds, the *free* Zoo entry, and the post-run festivities (beer & Angry Orchard Rosé, cough cough) make it so worth it!

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s initiative is amazing and you should definitely educate yourself if you’ve never heard of the organization! Their goal is to fight for the future of animals and their habitats around the world. If that’s not a cause you can get behind, then I don’t know what is! This year’s race was focused on raising awareness for big cats, like your favorite childhood lion, Simba, tigers, snow leopards, cheetahs, and jaguars. Slight tiger tangent: The WCS has been deeply involved with tiger conservation and what they call “tiger science” for years. You can learn more about their hard work here, including how they provide local governments, park rangers and law enforcement support when it comes to creating safe habitats for tigers and enabling the capture of illegal poachers in Asia. Poachers, for the record, I hate you. I kid you not, the Tiger Mountain exhibit nearly brought tears to my eyes because there’s an entire portion dedicated to the extinction of tigers. You should definitely check the exhibit out if you make your way up to the Zoo, especially considering that the tiger we saw was beautiful!

The route itself is pretty exciting because it winds throughout different footpaths in the zoo, so you’ll definitely see a ton of animals. I’d suggest saying screw you to your best 5k time and popping into some of the exhibits on the way. Some aren’t ideal for this and you can just catch them after the race, but it’s really easy to briskly walk through the giraffe exhibit. This is by no means a flat road and you’ll definitely encounter some hills along the way. The route also winds and has a lot of turns, which keeps things interesting.

While the run is great, the afterparty is where it’s at. There’s a swag bag, a rock climbing wall, face painting, light bites, and refreshments. The good kind. Like Coney Island Mermaid IPA and Angry Orchard. There’s a massive beer garden with a DJ, so it’s a fun post-race environment. We each got these super cute mini mugs to drink out of, which makes for a cute souvenir.

The WCS Run for the Wild is an annual event, so if you’re interested in getting in on the fun, you should definitely get it on your radar next year. Sign up with friends and family for a day of fun at the zoo! It’s the perfect excuse to spend some time outdoors; and it’s even better being that it’s for a good cause. I’ll definitely be back next year and I’m looking forward to seeing what other donation opportunities WCS has throughout the year!

Just noting: it’s not an official NYRR event 🙂 Registration is $50