FUN ON THE FARM (Gregory - 2020 - 5K)
34 Mile Drive
RF Events is my second favorite running company. I really enjoy their races. They are the only race company I know of that give points for buying races. RF points can eventually get participants free races. I got The 2019 Bigfoot Snowshoe Race free with RF credits. RF Events got hit really hard in 2020 cancelling 14 of their events. They normally have big turn outs. They have a lot of trail events. I got an email about a pop-up RF Event in Gregory called “Fun on the Farm.” It was RF Events putting themselves back on the calendar after months of cancellations with a new inaugural event in one of my favorite areas.
Like Holland, I once again found myself spending more on a 5K than I wanted. Fun on the Farm had everything “a la cart.” Medals and shirts for the event were add-ons. It was an interesting way of pricing out the run. I have had to add shirts on for an additional fee a few times, but never a medal. I love medals and shirts. I knew my registration was a way to help RF Events continue on through a tough year and I was glad to help keep their racing going. The best part about this race was getting a new city in that I had never heard of close to home! We really like the Pinckney area. It’s loaded with so many parks and trails for wilderness fans. I feel almost all of Pinckney is trails and woods.
Fun on the Farm was located off a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere. We took a long and scenic drive down North Territorial Road to get to the run. Parking would have gone slightly easier in a JEEP but the van still handled the off-roading. There was a field of brown cows near the parking area. They seemed curious about all the activity that they probably weren’t used too.
There was a decorative flagged off area by a pond with a hay stack entrance. They made an amazing clothes line that held our BIBs, shirts and medals. The clothes line packet pick-up was so memorable and creative. It made for a great photo opt. I got to the run early enough that only a few runners had picked up their items and the line was still very full. The waiver signing station was sanitized in-between runners and the start was staggered in small groups of a dozen participants. They had great music playing across the field. You could hear it clearly in the parking area. I’m sure the cows felt extra groovy. I sprayed my legs and arms with mosquito spray after hearing the last mile was all trail. It was wet, still early in the morning and mosquitos are relentless.
The course was two miles of country dirt roads up tremendous hills. I got quite the work out. On the way back from a turn-around we entered the woods instead of following the same path back to the finish. It was a really neat course route. The trails were very small. At times my feet barely had enough room to move. They were great for bikes. The email the night before the race had mentioned there may be bikes and that turned out to be a very serious FYI. The first time I encountered cyclists neither party was aware of the other one. We both had to react quickly. The second group of cyclists I ran past yelled “runner” before we got to one another. All the cyclists were very nice. When I came out of the woods there were three cyclists getting ready to go on the trail. They asked what was going on. I told them it was a 5K. I gave them a friendly warning that a bunch of runners were sporadically out on the trails. It could have been very easy to take out a runner on this course. Headphones would have been a runner’s demise in that last mile with the cyclists.
When I crossed the finish I saw my friend Jodi. I got to talk with her for a few minutes and get a picture together. She was all over the place at Fun on the Farm. One second she was placing finish line flags in the ground and the next she was directing outgoing cars. Jodi is a very hard worker and has been with RF Events for a long time. She’s a friendly face to always see. She saved me big time at Martian Invasion when I lost my BIB on the course and was desperate to get an official time for my first 10K.
I took the kids over to see the brown cows after the run. They liked the great music being played. When we left we had to be very careful of runners coming down to the finish on the road. We drove slow and yelled and clapped real loud to the two ladies we saw. I love getting chances to do that for other runners.
The rest of our day consisted of finding the little town of Gregory. Gregory’s gas station had the best pizza and name, “Mugg and Bopps.” Next to the gas station was a huge wood building with “Gregory” in huge letters. We decided after seeing no other city sign we would use it. It made for a really unique and massive city sign picture. We drove around town and ended up finding a glider ride field. I pulled over and turned on the emergency flashers. I went over to the fence to get a closer look. One of the men in charge gave me permission to hop over and watch up close. I told everyone to come over and watch. We watched three gliders take off and one land. It was such a cool experience. The kids learned a lot thanks to the wonderful people that let a random family come and watch their glider operations. It was a perfect day for gliding.
After our crash course in gliding we headed to Hell for a city sign picture. We walked around Screams and spent time checking out the scenery in Hell’s garden, which included the Hell Dam! There was artwork hidden in the woods and a sweet tiny chapel. Jason got a LARPing lock from Screams. We had no idea it was meant to be put on the Hell Locks of Love Fence. The certificate we received blew us away. It had our names printed on it and was literally scotched by the fires of Hell in front of our eyes.
That was….A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
I paid way too much for an amazing squishy bat from Hell. I thought the price of $6.66 was amazing. I named him Batty. He may become my running mascot. Batty takes great scenery shots.
It was a really fun day for the family. I always love cruising through Hell. You are bound to see a parade of bikers going to The Hell Hole or Hell Saloon. Bikers are badass caring people. They look out for one another and random strangers in need.
Things I take from Fun on the Farm run are:
1. The unique packet pick-up and finisher medals. The medals were red metal farms with a very cool Jamaican colored lanyard. The lanyard had a Bob Marley feel. I’m glad I paid extra to get the shirt and medal.
2. I had a pretty large discrepancy with my recorded time and my official results. The two times usually only vary be seconds. This time they were off by 40 seconds. I know I started and stopped my clock when I crossed the mat. I have no explanation.
3. The great trail that was one of the tightest trails I have run on. It had a lot of different scenery and a lot of great but sometimes blinding sunlight.
4. The random country gas station with a huge frisbee golf section! I thought they were just selling a ton of frisbees until I realized they were different weights and makes specifically for frisbee golf. It was really cool!
5. The North Territorial farm stand! I love buying food from local farmers. The only issue was finding it again after we back-tracked to an ATM for cash. I drove past it two times. We got an amazing tomato, pumpkins for Halloween and a beautiful sunflower in a pitcher Jason plans to use for LARP.
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