Thacher Park Running Festival 10K

Saturday marked the 100 year celebration of John Boyd Thacher State Park. Ever since I was a little kid I have been coming here to walk the Indian Ladder Trail, and it’s still one of my favorite places to get outside in the Capital Region.

I love going to Thacher for nature walks, trail running, fun trail racing, and even snowshoeing.

With one of the best views in the area, this place can’t be beat.

This is why I ran the 10K on Saturday. As part of the Centennial Celebration, the Albany Running Exchange put on some trail races: a 5K, a 10K, and even a marathon and a 50K!

The 10K course was a loop that goes along part of the Long Path, a trail that I had never run on there before. I love running new trails and it was nice to see other parts of the park.

There were even two great lookout spots during the race.

The 10K was Kristin‘s first trail race! We spent the whole race chatting away and it made the miles fly by. Thankfully both of us stayed upright the whole time. I heard there were a few nasty falls during the day. I have been there before and its not fun! We finished in 1 hour, 14 minutes.

Overall, I really enjoyed the course for this race! Maybe I’ll even find myself running the marathon here in the future.

I really wish I was doing the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon again this year at Thacher, but it falls on the same day as the Marine Corps Marathon! Speaking of marathon, if you were wondering: yes, I’m still training! Sunday (the day after the 10K) I ran my first 20 miler of my training plan! It went very well and I’m really excited to spend October 26th running around Washington DC for 26.2 miles.