The Amish 8-Miler

I'm back!  The Boudreau family took a long weekend and went to Pennsylvania for a mini vacation to visit some friends and family.  We stayed at my Aunt Vic and Uncle Snooze's house in Lykens, Pennsylvania.  I actually grew up in a town very close to where they live so our annual trips are like going home for me.  Lykens is located in a valley along the Appalachian Mountains with tons of farm land and quite a few Amish.  It's a very pretty area.  We left Thursday afternoon and got back last night at 10.  It was rough getting up this morning for summer school, but knowing I was done teaching at 11:15 am, I knew I could handle it.  A trip to Starbucks really helped me out as well!

This is the lane leading to my aunt & uncle's farm

My scheduled long run for the past weekend was 8 miles.  Since I was was in Pennsylvania, I couldn't do the long run with the girls, which made me sad.  On the other hand, I was excited to run in a different area/state than I normally do and to see where 8 miles landed me.  Just a little history, when we visited Pennsylvania last year, Ward and I set out for a quick 4 mile run, and got lost.  Our run ended up being closer to 7 miles.  Which is fine, but it was a bit scary not knowing when were going to make it back to my aunt and uncle's house.  Plus it was HOT!  

Anyway, having that experience behind me - I planned for my run very early Saturday morning and to do an out & back run and not turn the run into an adventure.  The conditions were perfect - blue skies, slight breeze, and very little humidity.  

 I opted to stay on the main roads for the run and to head into town – that way I knew I wouldn’t get lost!  At the mile 4 turn around, I saw a family friend’s house not too far off.  So I ran just a little further and was really hoping they would be around so I could say hi and get some water.  I even picked up their newspaper at the end of the driveway and was going to bring it in to them.  But nobody answered the door when I knocked.  When I looked at my watch and realized it was only 7:40 am, I felt a little bad by knocking on the door so early.  I’m hoping I didn’t wake them up! 

I didn’t take any water with me or hide any along the route because there is a gas station at mile 5, so I brought along my debit card just in case I wanted a drink.   I did stop and get bottled water and it was perfect.  I sipped it along the return run and dumped part of it on my head.  Which really felt awesome.  














What I saw along the route

:

0 cows – (totally shocked by this because I ran by quite a few farms that have cows, I guess it was too early for them)

1 snake

1 hunting lodge at the top of the mountain

2 Amish horse-draw buggies

3 emus

4 killer hills 

5 huge trucks transporting manure of some type – after the first one flew by me, I learned quickly to close my eyes and hold my breath – crazy stinky

8 bunnies

Tons of corn