My friend Jenny convinced me to join her last Sunday for a run organized by some of the members of ARE, a local running club. The run was a 10 mile run up to Thatcher Park. Thatcher Park is basically a huge cliff just outside of Albany with gorgeous views of the surrounding area. There are picnic areas and lots of hiking trails in the park. I've spent a lot of time up there over the years but I never considered running up it. When Jenny told me about it I thought it sounded both awesome and crazy at the same time.
Here's the elevation profile of the run:
There were two groups running. One was starting earlier from SUNY Albany and running 15 miles to the top. We started with the second group that started at a parking lot a little closer to run 10 miles. The first 6 miles were great. They were mostly rolling hills and nothing too difficult. It was when we got to mile 6 that the real climbing started. Jenny powered up the hills but I struggled a bit and had to take a few walking breaks. My legs felt strong but I kept having trouble catching my breath which I think was due to the chest cold that I am just getting over. The views along the way up were amazing. Even though it was tough it seemed to fly by because there was so much to look at.
When we finally got to the top most of the 15 milers were already there. They are so fast! They had all sorts of food and drinks for us and we took a bunch of photos before loading into the cars to go back down.
View from the top
I was exhausted the rest of the day but I felt so accomplished! Jenny and I have both agreed that we will do this again next year and maybe even do the full 15 miles.
