Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon and Squirrelly 6 MIle Run

After 6 triathlons in the last year and a bunch of 5K's in the last two months, I have discovered a few things about runners: there are lots of them; and they run for all kinds of reasons. They run for fitness and they run for thin-ness; they run to outdistance age;, they run to socialize and they run to compete; they run to have something to talk about and if they are good, something to brag about. And every now and then, they run just for fun.

That would be the Hairy Gorilla Half Marathon and Squirrelly Six Mile , held once a year in beautiful, but decidedly not downtown, Thatcher Park. On this late October morning the Helderberg Mountains were dry and the air was clear and very brisk. The frost was not on the pumpkins when I arrived, but it must have just left. I was dressed for the cold in fleece and wool, from head to toe. But a bunch of the runners were dressed for - Halloween!

The Albany Running Exchange, sponsors of the event, had turned the entire pavilion area,and the surrounding fields and trails, into one giant out door Spook House. The hosts, runners and spectators were very much into the spirit of the day. A hockey-masked Jason burst out of the woods and terrorized the kids - and me - with a very loud and scary chainsaw - until I noticed there was no chain on the saw. Multiple gorillas mingled with giant bananas, the by product of King Kong, Carmen Miranda and "Nightmare on Elm Street".

Everywhere you looked were terrifying girlies, ghastlies and ghoulies, oh my! If you don't think girlies are terrifying, you haven't seen a six foot tall belly dancer wearing a two piece harem outfit over a hairy chest. The pirates were lusty - and given the fair maidens, it was totally understandable, even if one of them was covered with tiny cereal boxes and all the fixings. Donna was a refuge from Sadie Hawkins Day and Deanne was a black cat with sharp claws, but a very pretty kitty.

You might have thought you had stumbled into Fantasia, and the Flight of the Bumblebees - but they were really the Boo-Bees (Fair Maidens and Fair Maidenforms?)- and they were being chased by the Boo Bee Keeper. His net was strung with a huge brassiere which looked more DDDD than B-sized.

My buddies Dodie and Kelly were there, too. Dodie was running, as was her friend Holly. Kelly was there with her kids and her parents to cheer on her husband, Craig, and her brother, Chris. Chris won the 13 mile event in the past, but while he was fresh off a terrific 10:32 finish at the Kona Ironman, his legs weren't, and he "only" finished 4th this time. Craig of the sore knees was 8th and Holly, training for another marathon, finished with a very good time. Donna and Deanne finished together - they would have been under an hour if they hadn't veered into left field - literally - before crossing the finish line, losing time as they circled back. Dodie made this her first post-achilles run, and finished very respectably. I cheered loudly for them all.

The runners, over 270 of them, took off from a graveyard and ran past several more of them along the way. Each tombstone was "en-graved" with the name of a registrant. Jamie liked his so much that when he saw it, he made a quick left turn off the trail, bent over, ripped it from the ground, and made it his running partner for the rest of the race. You can see the pictures here. To keep the runners on their toes - or on backsides if they didn't step lively - the trails were strewn with bananas. To keep the race interesting, as if the bananas, woods, terrain, rocks,hills and mud from the previous days' rain didn't make it interesting enough, Jason and other assorted beasties and nasties periodically leaped out at the stalwarts along the way. As if their hearts weren't beating fast enough!

Since it was a race, there were awards for the runners - but there were also awards for Best Costumes, Best Pumpkin Carvers, Best Gorilla Impersonation and Most Bananas Carried (remember them? 7 was the winning number). Hey, even a Back of the Packer like me would have a shot at winning one of those!

There was hot chocolate at the end of the race, and the traditional bagels and bananas(of course) But there was also a marvelous cookout, and I understand you could get your burgers just as rare as you liked!

I had a lot of fun. Next year I may have to don a costume and enter. Maybe I'll pretend to be an athlete!