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This year was the first year both Laura and I ran the Living History Farms Race together. Last year, I ran the 6-mile race by myself but as regaled my wife of the run she became intrigued to do the run for herself. The race for those unfamiliar bills itself as
"Largest & best Cross Country Race in North America". You must be ready to climb fences, wade through creeks, avoid animals and claw your way to the top of gullies with over 4,500 other runners of questionable senses. It's a great way to end the racing season and have some war stories to talk about all winter long. Stay for the "outdoors in November" awards ceremony. Don't wear anything to race in that you might want to keep.
That last statement is certainly true as my post race photos show: 
Laura was able to save her shirt, but mine alas was doomed to be tossed forever. There was certainly one point in the final stream crossing, aka the one that smells like a cow yard runoff, that I thought I was not going to be able to retrieve my shoe from the mud. (I had attempted to jump the creek, but landed a foot short and buried my foot up to the ankle in a mud suck-hole.) Even though the race was a mile longer (seven miles) this year, my unofficial time beat my last year's time by over 11 minutes. This is a race not so much one for personal records unless you are counting PR for most creek crossings or most mud in your shoe by race end.
As for how I finished, I don't know, and to some extent I don't care. I beat what I did last year by a ton. I felt a lot better doing it even as I ran the final 2 miles over again with Laura. Speaking of Laura, she ran her first race ever. She beat her personal goal, and that is all that matters for her. She accomplished something that many people haven't AND did not come in last. She was very paranoid about that for some reason. She also appreciated the fact that the race this year didn't have the snow or the slush as last year's did.
One of the highlights for me was the response to my shirt. I received countless "Great job!", "Way to Go!", or "How did you lose it?", which of course feels great and probably played more than once into my keeping on running when I certainly felt like walking with my muddy, water-soaked shoes. If anyone who said anything to me happens to read this, I give you my thanks. To the race coordinators, who put on another great race, my thanks go to you as well. It was a fantastic time, and I am happy I was a part of it. If you have a chance to be a part of 2007 race, you certainly want to be a part of it.
We also proved that one's dirtiness does not preclude one from shopping at Target. Apparently it does not matter how dirty your shirt is as long as you have one.
If you want to see the rest of the photos and exactly how dirty Laura and I got, check out my photo gallery.
Having to dodge puddles is about all I'm up to!! 
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