Running For Elephants

I love helping a great cause and having a blast in the process. Saturday my husband, my daughter and I did the 5th Annual Run For the Wild at the Bronx Zoo. This year the run was to raise money for the elephants which excited me because I love elephants and so does my daughter.

The elephant bracelets I made for myself and the ladies

The run had two different start times one at 8am for all the "runners" and one at 8:45 for the family run/walk. My daughter is only 15 months so we obviously did the family walk so we could push Olivia along in her stroller.  We arrived early and the NYPD had a strong presence, undoubtedly from the Boston Marathon tragedy a little over a week prior. Their counter-terrorism unit was on patrol and searching all bags that entered the premises.  Although, I have to say the fact that they hardly even glanced in my huge diaper bag didn't have me feeling too safe.

Ready to run for the wild!

We leisurely walked the 5K and at the finish line there was a complimentary breakfast. There were was also sponsor tables that were giving away gifts and information. We had a bagel, fed the baby and regrouped to conquer the zoo. We even attempted to get a photo with the elephant character that was walking around but Liv wasn't having it.

Get that thing away from me!

We had the perfect day. It was about 70 degrees and sunny.  We explored and had some lunch.  We had free entry into the zoo because we were run participants but I was shocked at how much wasn't included in the normal $16.95 admission price. You definitely have to get total experience tickets for $29.95 and that includes everything. I am even now considering buying the yearly WCS membership. For $189 you get admission for two adults, all children up to 18 and a guest and this includes all additional attractions and parking. I was also excited to learn this includes the Central Park Zoo which I am a huge fan of.

It was a great day but boy oh boy we were exhausted. We were walking around the zoo for about 8 hours so when we got home we were done. I even got sun burnt on top of it.  I am looking forward to going back to the zoo without doing the walk beforehand so we have more energy to conquer all the attractions. And maybe we can actually see the elephants next time. Unfortunately, the only way to see the elephants was on the monorail but the line was tremendous and we had a stroller loaded with all our stuff that we would need to park somewhere. At least that gives us something new to look forward to next time.