It's been so long since this event, about 2-1/2 months, so my memory might be a little foggy - JUST LIKE IT WAS THE DAY OF EVENT 49! Yeah, that's right - it was pea soup think driving out to Heiser Farms last October 20th for the ever-lovable XDog's Great Pumpkin Cross Country Run.
Heiser Farms is out in Dayton, OR - at least according to the address on their website. It would be more accurate to say they are out in the middle of nowhere. And it's awesome. But first, the drive out. The fog got thicker and thicker as we drove south on 99W and into wine country. It was a cold fog and felt colder down here deeper in the Willamette Valley so we were thankful for fleece. The fog, though - wow! We joked that the drive out could count as an event in itself!
It got to the point where we would have to slow to a crawl at ever intersection to see where we were and if we were still on the right road. We saw headlights from a couple of other cars doing the same thing, so we knew they were probably fellow XDoggers. A great group, indeed, even if we can't find our way in the fog.
Eventually we arrived at Heiser Farms. To be honest, I had never heard of Heiser Farms until this event. It is fantastic! Check the website (link above) but, man, family fun for everyone here! They have a small scale train you can ride, hay bale pyramids for kids, a petting zoo, several awesome slides, live music, hay rides, food and hot drinks.
Oh, and pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins. Plus, they have three of these babies:
And they have a mini tank that tears ass all over the place! It's a big kid's playground! All distractions aside, we were there to run the race.
This event is a little different from other XDog events in that it would be hard to kill yourself during this one. In every other XDog race, getting hurt is expected. Blood is celebrated. If you don't need the first aid kit at the finish line, you didn't run hard enough. The Great Pumpkin Cross Country Run was family oriented, so lots of moms and dads with kids. It was pretty much just a trail run. Oh, we kept expecting obstacles and cuts and bruises and mud and such, but the only way you could get hurt at this event is if you were on the receiving end of one of the cannons. The run was pretty straightforward, with a few little hills; some of the route on gravel road, some on single track. Since it was Halloween season, many people wore costumes.
We thought about bringing back Edamame Man and Blueberry Tart for this run, but we had packed the costumes away. Yes, packed. You noticed above I mentioned that we broke Kevin's XDog heart and here's why: we were moving away. Far away. The events put on by Kevin and his crew had played a huge part in the 50@50 Project. The support and camaraderie with XDog and the type of people who participate in these events has been amazing for us. Like I've said before, if all 50 events could be XDog events... well, I'd be dead... but it would have been epic!
So, we had worked the race count so that the Great Pumpkin Cross Country Run would be Event 49, with plans to do the final event - 50! - in our new location in Costa Rica. That race is this Sunday and will complete the Project within the year, with a couple of days to spare.
Fifty races in a year to celebrate me turning the big 5-0 last January. The first event was The White River Snow Shoe 8k race, which seems like an eternity ago. And - snow(!), which seems weird to think about while enjoying the tropics in Central America these last few months.
Anyhoo, we finished the run and hung out for quite a while, enjoying the goings on at Heiser Farms, watching the pumpkin cannons launch squash through an RV and at cars set up as targets. Kids in costumes running everywhere. Great fun and, knowing we were leaving this area, it was especially melancholy for us. We watched as Batman led the kids on a run in the children's race, a race that culminated in the kids going down one of the big tubular slides to receive there bag of treats at the bottom.
The awards presentation for our race started, with Kevin calling out the overall and age group winners. Surprisingly, I won my age group! Not surprisingly, the way it worked out, I was the only one IN my age group! But I will take whatever accolades I can get, so gladly made my way up to receive my special winners XDog dog-tag. Booyah! Sadly, it was at this point in the day that we dropped the bomb on Kevin.
At every XDog race, I wore the same shirt - a bright yellow tech shirt with 'Chug Life' on the front. You've seen it in the videos from the events, I'm sure. It was stained and had some snags in it from all that XDog throws at you in their races. I had not worn it this day, however. We were presenting the shirt to Kevin as a thank you for all his love and support during the year. Taking the mic from him, I explained briefly what we were doing and presented him with the shirt, which we had signed. He accepted the shirt graciously and I think he appreciated the gesture. I feel bad now because he was a little shocked and wasn't sure how to react. But he quickly recovered.
As Kevin continued with the awards and random drawings for raffle prizes, he 'coincidentally' drew Camera Crew's ticket. Payback? You decide. The prize - one free pumpkin from Heiser Farms. A pumpkin coupon, Kevin announced, that she had to redeem and a pumpkin that we had to take with us.
So she did.
And we did.
More on our pumpkin later!
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