Terry Hershey Park 20 miler

***Just so you know- I will be starting a giveaway tomorrow! It's my first ever on this blog and I am SO excited!!! There will also be more to come so just keep your eyes out for it all!***

So, holy moly! I discovered an AMAZING park yesterday! I have been googling places to run in the area and this one came up. It's about 25mins away but it was so worth it! It was absolutely amazing! It was a paved trail and there was an 8mile out and back trail one way and then a few miles going the other way. Perfect for long runs!

My only complaint: their map. I probably spent like 20-15 mins looking at the maps along the way. I just would get to these forks and not know which way to go. The maps didn't show forks- it just showed where the trail as a whole was supposed to go. So, I just had to sort've follow the other runners and bikers hoping they were going where I wanted to.

Oh man- lots of hills too! My mantra throughout the whole thing: "it's just a hill, get over it!" It actually worked!! I will be spending a lot of time here I think. I am so excited! It was beautiful too. Other great thing: lots of amenities! Restrooms along the way in a few places and lots of water fountains and showers! So cool! I'll give it an A+ :-) I just wish I knew it existed! It's perfect!

My first 10 miles were dedicated to Alex. You can learn about her here. It was so fitting because the Lupus foundation was having an event through out the park. There were pictures around the trail of people who had suffered from cancer and it really just hit close to home for thinking about my mom and thinking about Alex. I won't lie- I might've shed a tear. Heh, I let all the other runners think it was sweat :-) Then the rest of it- I just kept thinking about my mom and when I got to mile 18 I was back at my car and I was just like- if mom could get through it you can go one more mile out and back! So that's what I did! I struggled and stopped to fill up my h20 bottles and it was so stinking hot- but I finished strong.

So, tomorrow be on the lookout for my first ever giveaway! I am really excited about it! It'll be to help jump start my fundraising for the Marathon for the Cure (Susan G Komen).