Monday, October 7, 2013

Upcoming race: Living History Farms Off-Road Race

I feel like I'm officially a Des Moiniac now: I'm registered for this year's Living History Farms race.

For those not familiar with it, it's a seven-mile off-road race that involves costumes, climbing, crossing creeks and apparently dodging farm animals.

Registration is limited and fills up fast; in 2012, it sold out in 36 hours. So I'm going to consider just getting a spot an accomplishment in and of itself.

When I told my boss I was attempting to register, his response was: "Good luck! Do you have clothes you can burn afterwards?"

It's not my first obstacle race, but it's safe to say it'll be the toughest one I've done so far; the Warrior Dash and Olde English Classic were both only 5K. Living History will be the coldest, too — it's Nov. 23, compared with June and early October for the others.

I'm prepared in that I can run more than seven miles and I've dealt with mud and cold water before in runs ... two to three years ago ... but not in the costume department.

I have a team — the usual suspects of Cory, Emily, Zach and Regina — so with five brains, we should be able to come up with something. (My Warrior Dash companion and I totally whiffed on this part, but we were scattered across three states, in our defense.)

Ideally, it would be more run-friendly than the last one I wore in a costume race. And warm. And easily assembled at a low cost ...

This might be the toughest part of the race.

Anyway, despite the race not even being on my radar a few weeks ago, I'm pretty excited about it now.

It's reminding me of RAGBRAI — the buzz about it, the excitement from people who hear you've registered, the camaraderie, the disregard for cleanliness — and it fits perfectly with my goal to shake up my running routine.

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