9:30 AM - Got up early, got dressed and a cup of coffee and then headed out to the race. Didn't get there until 5 after 9 and had to jog to the registration tent. Held in the scenic Thacher Park, New York, ARE makes you park in the parking lots and walk/jog up to the starting line. I like this though and it makes for easy get away after the race. Jogged to the start and got my bib number #581. Missed out by a week or so on the giveaway of a florescent orange hat. Darn! That'll teach me to register early next year. My buddy from college xc Chris Chromczack was there dressed as his normal zombie self. This race is among my favorite of all time. It's put on by one of the best running clubs out there and everyone wears costumes and shows up ready to have a great time. Chris has an important job before the start of the race. He moseys around from port-a-john to snack table to bathrooms and sneaks up on people with a chainsaw w/out blade. It's funny to hear first timers scream a bit. Haha. He got me when I first came up and I turned around and said hey. The only time he really scared me was at mile 12 when he jumped out of a bush at me haha. He is one wild and crazy guy! RACE TIME!
Race started promptly at 9:30 am. The ARE also puts on the Squirrely Six Miler in conjunction with the Hairy Gorilla Half and it has been my strategy in the past to run and just follow the pace of some of the 6 milers. MILES 1-2: Bottleneck affect. It is a .1 mile run into the woods and then it's essentially single track. Too many people slow down when they see mud. Newbies! hmpf! Went through the one mile in about 11 minutes and then the two mile mark about 22 minutes. MILES 3-5: Got into a rhythm. Miles 3 and 4 had big hills and I just plugged away. I forgot to mention that I haven't run more than 4-5 miles at a time since the Monroe Race. I was running this race as part of the Saratoga Stryders, one of the running clubs I am a member of. Flattened out going into the last mile. MILE 6: Hit the 6 mile mark in 58:50 (5k had been 31:30). So I sped up the last mile and was on track to have a strong race. Headed out onto the second loop, thankful to be shed of the 6 milers and happy that it wasn't merely a repeat loop but a different one :). MILES 7-8: A couple really muddy sections. No aid stations with anything but water. I was beginning to think this was a bad idea. I remembered about mile 8 I had failed to eat breakfast! Doh! Running on empty, but I just kept plugging away. MILES 9-11: Funny sight was a woman dressed as a ladybug that got her picture taken running away through the fields during the race. Sad thing, she beat me haha! That'll teach me to stay in shape! Around mile 11 you come to a 180 degree turn. A guy in a banana costume was standing there to make sure we turned. Six feet after the turn is a 100 foot drop off! MILES 12 & 13: The last two miles were tough. Had to walk for about 5 minutes total, about 1 minute every 5 minutes of running. Blah. No real hills here which is generally when I walk, but I had to step to the side and let a couple dozen people pass. Just not my day. All in all a good show. Got beat by my former English teacher's husband though. He generally doesn't beat me. FINAL TIME: 2:16:19, 169th place of 281 total finishers for the half. Most people I got passed by in the end had gone through the last check about 5 minutes after me which shows how the walking did me in. Oh well. What a blast! Fueled up with bananas, got my hairy gorilla medal (plush toy), and headed home. Total Mileage for the Day: 14 miles
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