Nov. 22, 2008

Living History Farms, Des Moines, Ia.
This is no ordinary run. It's not even an ordinary cross country run.
The first real clue came about a mile into the race. Unbelievably, three runners sped by us wearing nothing but t-shirts, shoes and thongs on a cold day in Iowa. And they were GUYS. There was the guy dressed as an Indian who ran barefoot and was dressed with only a loin cloth. I guess he also had a large bow over his shoulder. A half dozen girls ran the whole race in wedding dresses. Probably 25 percent of the participants were dressed in something other than running gear. Overall, I'd say it was the best costumed race I've ever been in.
The race covered much of the 550-acre farm, weaving in and out of fields, down dirt roads, through tunnels under the interstate. We made 8 stream crossings. No bridges, mind you. It was down the steep embankment, into water and muck half way up the calf, and up the other side using knotted ropes, small trees, rocks, roots and anything else we could grab.
The temperature at race time was 28 degrees, but the wind chill factor was 18. It was plenty cold, but it didn't take long to warm up once the running started. We started near the back of the 7,545 entrants and worked our way up throughout the race. Even so, we were constantly in a crowd. Approaching stream crossings we frequently walked and even waited to jump into the soup. I rolled my ankle two or three times, but not seriously. I've worked hard to strengthen my ankles, plus I wore elastic ankle supports for this run for added protection.
Typically, I would expect to run 7 miles in 56 min. or so, but finished this run in 1:15. Despite the slow pace, it was a really tough, satisfying and fun workout. A degree or two warmer would be nice.