Sasquatch 5k - Mt. Wolf, PA

When I saw the June issue of Runner's World magazine was all about trail running, I was intrigued, but since I'd never really done a trail run I didn't think it would have much for me.  Ha!  One article they had included the best trail runs in the country.  I love reading about other races and what makes them unique.  As I read along, I was floored when I came to the Best Sasquatch Race.  It's in York County!  In the next town over to be precise.  I was intrigued.

I looked it up.  How could you not?  And I decided then and there I was running this race.  There are so few races in my area that when a really cool sounding race comes along, you have to do it!  Well, last night hubby signed us up.  We're doing it!  I will be running to find Sasquatch.  Woohoo!

Yes, the camera is coming with us.  No, I'm not running for time.  I anticipate being the first person ever to find Sasquatch and will become rich and famous.  I'll still blog and all.  But, I'll be all fancy and rich while I do it.  LOL!

If interested in running in this awesome race, go here.

The heat and other random stuff

I'm pretty sure wherever you are reading this, you're probably in a heat wave too.  It's been crazy hot around here these days.  It's been over 90 degrees every day this week since Monday.  And what have I done?  I've actually gone out and run 3 days.  *scratches head*

I hate running in the heat.  Really.  I do.  But Monday, I hit Front Street in Harrisburg for about a 2 mile run (not sure because apparently I forgot to charge Garmin and my Nano, that has a pedometer on it.). According to my car (which I know isn't the most accurate thing in the world, but...) it was 92 degrees out.  I then headed into the Y for my trainer session.  Maybe not the best idea.  I was dying! 

Then Tuesday I hit the mean streets of Manchester to run the Wounded Warrior Virtual 5k, so 3.1 miles.  It was hot then too!  I'm also not a morning person, which means I don't get up at 5 in the morning to run.  I get up my normal time and run.  So, I was out at 9:00 a.m., when it was about 80 degrees.  Fun.

Yesterday, hubby and I hit Pinchot State Park for a trail run.  It was hot!  The car said it was about 86 degrees at 9:15 a.m.  The car doesn't do humidity though and I am pretty sure that was through the roof, under all those trees.  We took the trail I did last weekend and ran up all sorts of rocks.  Then when we hit where I turned around, hubby decided to take us left...up and over even more rocks!  It was crazy!  No wonder this trail is labeled difficult!  We managed approximately 3 miles in 40 minutes.  You would not have wanted to be around us afterwards though.  LOL! 

Then yesterday, we hit a lake for a picnic with a friend and his family.  It was oppressive!  We hung out on the shore, hubby managed to get into the water, we road around on the boat, then had a yummy picnic dinner.  Sadly, after dinner, a thunderstorm came through and we had to cover the boat and miss the fireworks.  :-(  We ended up hanging out at a local restaurant/bar for a little while, enjoying the air and lack of rain.

I'm hearing tales that the heat wave may be ending.  I'll believe it when I feel it.  And they say global warming is a myth....

Trail Run

Yup. Still preparing for this.  It's less than 2 weeks away now.  A time to be scared.  Truly scared.  In my attempts to get ready for this race, I hit a local state park to get a trail run in.  I figure running on a trail will help me adjust to the trail run part of the race.

I headed to Gifford Pinchot State Park, named after the first Chief of the United States Forest Service and the 28th Governor of Pennsylvania.  It's about a half hour away from the house, but it is the closest place I could think of to run. 

I parked the car and realized just how pretty Pinchot is.  There are lots of stuff to do there and it's just a really nice park.

 

I decided to head to the trails to the left of the park area because it had more rest areas.  Not knowing how far anything was from anything else by looking at the map, I thought random rest areas would come in handy, especially if I had to hit the bathroom.  Heading right would have been fun too since there was a scenic overlook, but no bathrooms.  Priorities.  I chose to take the Lakeside Trail.  I figured this would keep me from getting too lost.  LOL!

The trail was so pretty.  It was a hot day, somewhere around 80 degrees and honestly, really humid.  I was a tad bit nervous about running because it was so hot.  Hate running in the heat.  Bah!  But it was pretty...

I had no idea where I was going in general, but I just kept wandering through the paths and stuck to the lake.  I figured that would keep me from getting too lost.  LOL!  At one point, I had several path options and I chose the one that was uphill.  And then, just feet into it, there were rocks.

These rocks were between 1/4 and 1/2 mile long, but I welcomed them!  I realized this path was great for trying to get ready for the race.  And it was kinda neat to run over the rocks without falling.  Twisted my ankles a tad, nothing serious though.  And when I got to the turn around point I had to take a self-portrait.

On the way back down the trail, there is one section that is just barely a path.  I'm glad it was part of a larger path because if that were the whole thing, I sure as heck wouldn't have found my way back!

And I was running so fast, my camera couldn't keep up!  Mwhahahahaha!

Though, I admit.  At one point I did get a tad bit lost.  I'm not sure what happened.  I thought I remembered all the turns I made, but apparently not.  I did find this really pretty park bench.

Then I found the path again and set off to the parking lot.  It was still hot and I was sweating.  Ugh.  But, it was shady, which kept a lot of the sun off me.  Not only did it keep me from having the sun beat down and make me hotter, but it kept the sun off me so I didn't worry about burning (don't worry, I had SPF 110 on).

I got back to the picnic area alive.  Yea!  My Garmin said about 2.25 miles at 37 minutes.  :-(  But, I also turned on the pedometer on my Nano, which said I got 2.5 miles.  I'm going with the Nano on distance because a couple times the Garmin stopped measuring distance due to the tree cover.  But, the Nano didn't have that problem.

So, it was a good run.  It was a nice change of pace.  And next Saturday, I'm going back again.  It's a nice change of pace from running on sidewalks without shade.