On Saturday, October 18, 2008, I ran a "12k" cross country race through hills, single-track trails, a swamp, an optional pond swim (swam last year, ran penalty lap this year), logs, obstacles, horse, hurdles, and an 8-foot high stack of hay bales.
The start was through a corn field (I'm number 85, black long sleeves), but we then headed out through a pasture,
and then the swamp at the mile marker (see photo of my colleague emerging from the swamp). I placed 35th out of 116, but 3rd in the old (50 to 59) age group, garnering some hardware (actually, a bottle of wine). Following the swamp, much of the course traversed wooded terrain. I wore my Garmin watch, so was able to plot up the course 
afterwards (see map). The distance turned out to be 8.55 miles on my Garmin, but the "penalty lap" around the pond was 0. 33 miles, so the actual race distance (if you chose to swim on a day when temperatures were in the 40s) was about 8.25 miles, or roughly 13k. The true race distance may be a bit overestimated, as I think I took a wrong turn at one point, and ran 0.1 miles too far (taking several unsuspecting runners with me). The wooded part of the course was the most interesting, and incl
uded natural and man-made
obstacles (see lo
g photo), including a steep incline which essentially involved about a 2-minute "walk" up the slope, using my hands several times. Although temperatures were cool, many people did opt for the 40-meter pond swim (as I did last year). I estimate that you save over a minute by swimming, but the
n you're going to lose some of it back with the extra weight, so I'm unsure of the net gain (see pond penalty lap route from Garmin). Finally, near the end, there was the horse corral (race was held at a horse farm) complete with horse jumps and the hay bale climb (see photos of me hurdling a horse barrier and my colleague and me negotiating the the hale bale climb).
afterwards (see map). The distance turned out to be 8.55 miles on my Garmin, but the "penalty lap" around the pond was 0. 33 miles, so the actual race distance (if you chose to swim on a day when temperatures were in the 40s) was about 8.25 miles, or roughly 13k. The true race distance may be a bit overestimated, as I think I took a wrong turn at one point, and ran 0.1 miles too far (taking several unsuspecting runners with me). The wooded part of the course was the most interesting, and incl
uded natural and man-madeobstacles (see lo
g photo), including a steep incline which essentially involved about a 2-minute "walk" up the slope, using my hands several times. Although temperatures were cool, many people did opt for the 40-meter pond swim (as I did last year). I estimate that you save over a minute by swimming, but the
n you're going to lose some of it back with the extra weight, so I'm unsure of the net gain (see pond penalty lap route from Garmin). Finally, near the end, there was the horse corral (race was held at a horse farm) complete with horse jumps and the hay bale climb (see photos of me hurdling a horse barrier and my colleague and me negotiating the the hale bale climb).
Finally, a quick comment on time and place. I ran 1:13:47 for 35th place (as mentioned before). About 8:40 per mile, which sounds slow, but I guess not bad considering I was going 10 to 12 minutes per mile on some of the uphills (per the Garmin).
Eric should run this with me next year!
Link to results:
http://www.gvh.net/jensenStablesXC/documents/jensen-results.pdf
Link to results:
http://www.gvh.net/jensenStablesXC/documents/jensen-results.pdf
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