With what must have been 3 plus inches of Rain Saturday night,,, the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon day of Sunday broke out a bit foggy on the drive up,,,and a little slow as I found my way to the John Boyd Thacher State park,,a little South and West of Albany,,,http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=125
Greeted in the parking lot by Screams, and yelling Halloween like sounds coming from huge speakers up near the Start line,,, was just the beginning,,, Many folks in costumes,,, the Hairy Gorilla him/her self,, a few Tin men,, a Scarecrow or two,,, and Geico lizards,, a Pirate , AKA Jack Sparrow,,, ,,, the Race announcement were short and sweet,,, "The Course is a mess,,, Wet and Muddy,,, don't even try to stay Dry !" He was not kidding,,, a half mile in we are "running" through water up to mid calf,, and it just got better from there, Crossing a stream - at least that washed off the mud - plodding thru hundreds of yards of 6 inch deep mud,,, running ?? not possible,,, just had to walk,,, same with many of the Up hill, and down hills,,, way too slippery to even Jog,,, had to more or less slide down,The folks there said that this was by a 100 factor - the worst that the course has ever been,,, Well - we finished in about 2 and 1/2 hours, collected out Little stuffed Hairy Gorilla "medals" ,, and were a MUD MESS !! Washed off our legs in a clean puddle near the Parking lot,, donned some dry clothes - Gee the Warm dry socks actually felt weird.. We were able to secure the last two pieces of lasagna, along with some Taco Salad,,,, The State park is beautiful , and the race was unique to say the least, and very well organized by the Albany Running exchange. Certainly an event to add to the running calendar for next year,,,,
Other runners crossing the creek,,,if you look real close in the background you can see us (Annette and me) ,,,
What a Beautiful State park !!
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