Before I start, need to give a shout out to the cause of a recent partner from a run two weekends ago. His name is Peter Sagal and he looks for donations for a dear friend of his.  If you can spare a few bucks, please do so.  Check it out here.

Every discipline in the world has its own styles.  Whether it be chefs, farmers, downhill skiers, lawyers, or of course runners; how you go about your business varies as much as the individuals.  Every fall, usually sometime around the point where the novelty of the new school year wears off, I find myself penciling in a bunch of cross country races.

I can’t help but love the sense of my spikes digging into the dirt and grass.  The feeling late in a race when you have that one last hill to surge up and all you want to do is barf is hard to replicate in a longer road race. Unpredictable weather, sharp twists and turns, mud, damn I love it.  My style and attitude towards running matches up very well with the spirit of the sport.  With a growing number of XC races in the area, it is that much easier to pursue this.

Took some of the team up to Sioux Falls, SD on Sunday.  Big regional meet that is picking up steam in various parts of the country is something called the Nike Cross Nationals.  Now anyone who is tuned into high school running knows that the real deal meet is FOOT LOCKER NATIONALS, geared towards individuals.  NXN looks to crown a national TEAM champion, pretty cool. There are eight regions around the country.  Top 2 teams and the top 5 individuals qualify for an all-expense paid trip to Portland, OR and more gear than you could steal from a Finish Line.  Top teams in the “Heartland” Region meet here and go at it.  Let me tell you, there are some superb athletes out there.   Very fun to watch.

A bit about the course.  Coming from Nebraska where we have some of the more challenging XC courses around, this bad boy is wicked flat.  It is really a track meet.  With two key exceptions, the first is a series of what the race organizers call whoop-de-dos. I prefer moguls:

Man-made hills about 4-5′ tall.  They don’t look bad until you try to go fast over them.  Your heart rate red lines to a ridiculous 450 BPM and you ask your self what the hell just happened on those stupid “hills”.  On to obstacle #2, the haybales:

3 rows of haybales x 2 (one at about 1200 mark of the loop and the other at the 1600m mark)of these throws you off also. If you have watched a distance runner try to hurdle, it is similar to how porcupines mate.  You know, really awkward and careful but somehow they get through it and it works.  Same for seeing runners hurdle 18 inch tall hay bales.

So two and a half circuits of a spectator friendly course gives you a full 5k.  Made my goal time and then some this year, squeezed out a 16:39 and an 8th o/a in the community race.  Look for some more updates, I have still have 2 more off road races to go. I wish XC was year round.