2008 Living History Farm cross country race
This is a brief report from my experience running the 30th Annual Living History Farms Race in Des Moines, IA. This race is advertised as the largest cross country race in North America.
I live in Omaha, NE and made the 2 hour drive to Des Moines that morning. The forecast was upper 20-30 F but with the wind chill it was around 19 degrees, very balmy winds too.
There near 7,500 entrants of all ages, a lot of high school kids, you can enter as a single or part of a team. Many runners enter as teams, and get all dressed up in various costumes, tights, hats, or some brave the cold and opt for minimal clothing like thongs, or no shirts or speedos and swimsuits. Me I was dressed in all pink and sporting a pink flamingo hat, We midwesters are a different breed!
So the 7 plus mile race starts in an open field at the beginning of the farm, a very narrow path and a long trot for a start. At this point I knew this was not a PR kind or race, the crowds excitement is contagious as you make your way past brides, turkeys, reindeer, Batman, Robin, the minimally clothed it open farm land, the race starts with fields and hills and pastures. Eventually, around mile 3 you make it into a wooded area realize as the screaming excited crowd backs up what part of the race your at the first stream crossing ice cold water. When you make your decent into the ravine you either buck up and dive right in and climb up the sides grabbing onto tree roots or as many runners were doing, stopping and waiting in a line for the rope you can grab to get out of the water and up the bank. I went up stream to avoid the crowd and jumped right in. Let me tell you there is nothing better then jumping into freezing water at 9a.m. on a saturday morning. YES! So trails and wet shoes mix to make mud soaked paths and hill climbs of extreme difficultly and parts where you have to grab onto ropes, trees and logs to get up, or to keep from falling back and taking out the narrow trail of runners behind you. As you continue to wind through the woods you continue to cross more ravines some ankle deep others as high as your waist, some with rock stepping stones logs etc. in the way, some parts in which you have to paw your way up the muddy banks to get out of the water. soggy socks and cold legs break into large uphill climbs and rolling hills for a while until you head in the direction of another part of the woods and more fun water crossings, and “walls” of mud to scale up. At one point you make the decision, a fork in the road, “short and hard’ or Long and easy” well I can’t attest to long and easy, but short and hard was about 100m straight climb out of the ravine!! fun, then back to the open farm, with uneven paths and ruts from tractor tires. At this point I thought, “there is no way Steve runner could do this race with his bum ankle” So finally a finish line in sight around the 7.7 mile mark, and a large crowd of brave cheering fans and volunteers and a hop across the finish line to warm clothes, hot cider and donuts. Finishing in 109.38 .
This race was a fun and very challenging coarse I highly recommend for those thrill seekers looking for a good race to close the season with not looking for PRs but the thrill of racing with lots of other people enjoying the off roads of the sport. not only do you get to be covered in cold water and mud for an hour but you get all bragging rights of withstanding the cold and sharing your pictures with co-workers. Please look at the link to there site
http://www.fitnesssports.com/November_races/LivHistFarms/lhf_index.html
and enjoy the pictures!!
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| From website photos |
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| From website photos |