The Hairy Gorilla Half

It had rained 3.5 inches the night before the race. Typically this would mean wait pavement and a few puddles - nothing to worry yourself too much about. Well - that's if you are not running on the side of a mountain in upstate New York - and I was. 

The Hairy Gorilla Half (HGH) was just about the craziest course I can ever imagine encountering. It was a trail race with the conditions made about 20x more intense. A puddle wasn't just a puddle. It was at least knee deep and 10 - 30 feet long (and FREEZING!) The mud felt like quick sand...literally. For approximately a quater-mile patch in the second half of the race, I was trapsing through 8 inch deep mud that felt like you were running through soft sand. The mud stuck to your shoes. You couldn't get a flat footing. And people were coming in the opposite direction - so you knew that you'd have to do this all over again. 

I spent the racing both laughing hysterically and being ridiculously exhausted. But I couldn't help smiling as I splashed through the water and waded through the mud. I had hoped to give my medal to "Medals for Mettle" but it turns out that the "Gorilla shaped medal" they talked about on the website was actually a 6 inch tall stuffed gorilla with cheap gift ribbon safety pinned to it. But, I earned that stuffed animal, darn it! 

For now...112 days until the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA!