Dodge the Deer 5k.

The day started with me getting up at 6:30 to take a shower(cause I always have to shower before a race for some reason) I woke Aaron up at 7 and then Ian came at 7:45. We followed him to Schodack, NY.

It was raining the whole time and about 42 degrees on the way there. I remember thinking that we should just turn around and go home. After all, the race was only $15.

On the way, Jolene called and said she was running late. With how long it would take her to get there, we would be finished with the race already so she stayed home.

We got there and picked up our packages and bibs and then went over to a tent that they had where they were selling tshirts and souviners and all that stuff. I ended up buying a tshirt and Aaron bought a sticker, and a tshirt. Ian bought a pint glass..

Then they announced it was time to line up. By then the rain had stopped. (thank goodness) and we all lined up. There were 264 people at this race. Not the biggest race Ive ever done but it was a nice chunk considering we all had to squeeze onto one tiny trail.

They said "GO" and we were off.. I stayed with Ian for the 1st 2 miles. It was SO hard to get around people in front of you so I'm blaming some of that on my finish time. Lol..

At mile 1, they had a clock and my pace was 9mins20seconds.. which was pretty good. (for me) It seemed like FOREVER for the mile 2 marker to show up, I thought that they might have forgotten to put it up..but then I saw it. Ughh.. I was dying by then for some reason and thats when Ian started to pull away..

I kept my eye on him the whole time though. Aaron was long gone by then and I was just trying not to stop. I passed a few girls that looked about my age but I think they got me in the end...

Over all, it wasn't a good race. It was my frist trail race and not at all what I expected. Very hilly which was fine but also so very crouded..

Official time: 28:57 - Ouuccchh! Not my best time but not the worst, either.

On to some pictures:

These were the mascots I guess.. I have no idea what the race is about. All I know is it's put on by the Albany Running Exchange and they had a cookout and music and everything.

Thanks for reading!

country

Here are some pictures of the hilly route that Aaron and I ran a week or so ago. I love the route.. very pretty!

Here is looking down the hill that we ran up:

I hate how pictures dont show the true massiveness of this hill!

This is just before going down it. Pretty big drop off.

I have a video, too but for some reason, I can't get it on here. Darn.

We had our race this Saturday so I'll be posting a race report after this.

Phew!

Aaron and I took a different route on our nightly run today. We ran way out into the country where all there are are cows and the smell of cow poop!

It was fun though. The first 1/2 mile was all hill. Probably bigger than the ones back in Virginia,(if you remember me posting pictures of those suckers) and a hell of a lot longer! But we made it all the way.

I wish I had brought my camera. It was just so peaceful out there compared to running in town with people everywhere and traffic. I hope we can do this route more often.

Im beginning to think I can be a distance runner. That is, when I'm not thinking about running, I can be.

 Like today when we were running out there in the openness with nothing around but cows and beautiful views, for once, I wasn't thinking, "Man, when will this be over? I can't breathe, my legs hurt, I have a cramp" like I normally do. I was just thinking about the veiw. It was fun. Seriously.

Our race is this Saturday. The Dodge The Deer 5k trail run. This should be fun!