I did it. I woke up extra early on Thanksgiving morning, I went to the Bronx and ran through the woods for the Thanksgiving marathon. And I got my fork.
Can we talk about what a cool concept this is? It's a free race supported by runner's donations. They have a race for every holiday. I think I might run the Labor Day one so I can get a hammer. . . only if they change the course.
It was a gorgeous day for running. The sun was out and it was a little too cold not to have a throwaway but I survived. After getting into the groove, I was warm enough in what I was wearing but I did wish I had long sleeves for a good portion of the beginning of the race.
Now can we talk about what's not cool? Trail runs. This race taught me that no matter how cool a trail run sounds, never ever sign up to run one again. My god. Why did no one warn me about Van Cortlandt Park? Those hills nearly killed me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of hills. Harlem and I are BFFs. I just wasn't ready for the challenges these insanely steep inclines were giving. Plus, I'm still injured here. I did not want to risk it. . so I walked a lot of it. It took me a long time to finish and I'm ok with that.
Another not so cool part? The course map online said the 10K (or 6.5) was supposed to be one loop. Apparently they didn't mark it that way and it was actually two loops. I am not a fan of that. Why? Because it's too easy to quit, which I almost did after the first round of inclines, wet leaves and mud. I wanted to finish it out by doing 2 loops of the 5k course, but I didn't know how strict they'd be if I decided to make my own course. I mean, granted, this race wasn't timed and everyone's bib read "1". oh well. I survived.
On to the photo tour!
The Tortoise and The Hare statue: The meeting point.
Slow and Steady wins the race.
More runners showing up. There ended up being a nice size crowd.
The Start Line.
The start of into the woods.
Lots of the path was covered with wet leaves, which = slippery.
Some parts had slippery mud, too.
But my favorite part was the unexpected hills.
I really hope you got that as sarcasm.
But I got my fork! (Who else thinks this is the opposite of safety?)
I was a little disappointed it wasn't engraved. Oh well.
And I made my traditional photo.
And I used it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Kidding.
The End.
Well done!! I would have crawled up those hills.
ReplyDeleteMy first trail was flat and I just loved it. So I signed up for another - my first 10K. I had never even run a 10K in training but thought it would be easy. It said overall it was a downhill course.
ReplyDeleteThey ignored to mention you actually run UP and then down two hills. OMG it was insane and I almost cried and almost quit too many times.
I'm glad you finished and got your fork!