Horning Farms Hustle (Manchester - 2021 - 5K)
60.3 Mile Drive
Registration:
I love running through Dairy
Farms! I’ve been hooked ever since the
Stakenas Stampede in 2019. My friend Lyndsay,
whom I met at Stakenas Farm in Free Soil, told me that a friend of hers was
putting on a dairy farm run in Manchester.
Dairy farm runs often take place in rural towns that typically have very
few running events. They commonly end up
being in new cities I haven’t run in. In
Free Soil and Alto the dairy farm 5Ks were the only running events I had found
in either city. I would run at a dairy
farm in a city I have already run in because of how much I enjoy dairy farm
events. I knew registering for the
Horning Farms Hustle would create an absolutely packed running week if I
registered but….
I couldn’t say “No.”
Cows were loved by my grandma. I think she would be my greatest running fan
if she were still alive. I can’t say no
to a cow run on my grandma’s behalf.
Registration for the Horning Farms
Hustle was easy through RunSignUp. I
liked how the farm wrote a small paragraph about themselves in addition to
their course information.
I loved Horning Farms quote:
“We’re excited to give running an agricultural-related
twist!”
Both the 1 Mile Run and 5K were described
in exciting ways. The 5K description stated
it would, “show off what farming is all about.”
I loved their race descriptions. They
were extremely well written.
Guidelines for the event were
clear. Dogs were not allowed because running
with dogs at a farm run is not a good idea.
Awards, t-shirt deadlines and same-day registration notes were all
listed on RunSignUp.
Packet pick-up was in the shade inside a giant blue storage shed connected to the Horning Farms Farm Shop. It was very spacious inside. I could see where staff had been stickering medals at a nearby table. There were awesome tall stacks of hay barrels behind the packet pick-up table.
Course:
Farm courses are very challenging. If you sign up for a farm run, be prepared to
be exhausted, have your footing and balance tested all while getting an amazing
workout. It’s been my experience at all
three of my dairy farm 5Ks that farm trails are uneven and have a lot of “dips”
in the grass that you can’t necessarily see as you are moving. Some of my course pictures show what I am
talking about. In a blink of an eye you
can lose footing and stumble. On top of
the already challenging terrain it had rained the day before the Horning Farms
Hustle and areas of the course had water deep enough water to soak a shoe like
a sponge. I was strategic and mindful (not
an airhead like usual) and successfully evaded the wetlands on the course. I did NOT however, make it to the finish mud
free. ^_^
Horning Farms was right when they said in their registration
description the 5K course would show us what farming was all about. We started at a start line almost identical
to the Stakenas Stampede under a black and white spotted cow banner attached to
two huge John Deere tractors. We almost immediately
turned left and ran by cow calves in their homes. It looked like an apartment complex for baby
cows. One was out watching us. After the day-care section of the farm we ran
along the cow barns. The cows seemed to
get larger in size as we ran. I captured one cow (5014) with a panicked look on
her face. It was quite the photography
moment.
We took dirt paths through another young cow area before heading
up a good incline to the tire mountain! After
tire mountain we ran through my personal favorite part of the course…
The corn fields!
This was my first time running through a path cut out in a corn
field. I couldn’t see over or through
the thick corn stalks, but I could see distant fields where the corn ended straight
ahead of me. It was a really cool view. The corn field pictures I got turned out great. After coming out of the first corn trail we
got onto a dirt road. It was the best
part of the course to pick up extra speed if needed. It was flat and spare pieces of gravel didn’t
cause footing trouble. Lima Center Road
took us down to a huge clearing northeast of the cow barns. We ran a huge square back there. I could see the cow barns in the
distance. It was an amazing view. The path got very hard with uneven ground and
we had to run around a small pond that had formed in the field from rain.
We went back down Lima Center Road through a different corn
field trail parallel to the first one we traveled down that ended with a very
muddy turn onto the home stretch. The
home stretch was the hardest part of the course for me. It was hilly with more uneven grass. I was exhausted. I tried to stay within sight of the inspiring
man from the dirt road but I eventually lost him. We didn’t run next to the cows on the way back,
we went around the cow barns from a distance.
The course was the wettest in the last quarter mile near Pleasant Lake
Road. There was one final hill before we
got back to the parking lot. I saw a kid
running towards me down it in a red shirt and realized it was Luke. Jason was standing at the top of the hill talking
to a male finisher. Luke ran to the finish
with me. I was really struggling even in
the last hundred feet. Luke told me not
to stop. It was awesome to have Luke
with me. I got passed by a woman in that
last loop around the Horning Farms house.
It should have been easily avoidable and many runners I’ve known would have
been very upset being passed that close to a finish line. All I could think of in that moment was:
1.
They aren’t giving out age group awards, just
overall awards.
2.
I’ve been running on fumes since mile two and today this
is the best I have.
3.
I had fun taking pictures on a farm.
I left the negative thoughts on not doing my best behind me and focused
on the awesome cow finisher medal waiting for me.
To sum the Horning Farms Hustle course up…
It was a beautiful scenic farm course that appears flat until you are running on it. Its unique challenges would give even a seasoned runner a run for their average 5K time.
Swag:
I was so excited when I saw the design
for the Horning Farms Hustle shirt. They
put a sweat band on a cow! I loved the
teal colors. I got a great cow themed tech-shirt
and matching finisher medal. I was extra
thankful for the Horning Farms finisher medal because Pigeon and Vestaburg did
not have finisher medals. I got a swag
bag of goodies with my shirt that included: slap-on bracelets, amazing dairy
lip balm, a cow frame fridge picture magnet, pencils, “Undeniably Dairy” magnet
clips, tons of information on dairy farming and milk and a “Refuel with Chocolate
Milk” wrist band. The kids were given
kids farm bags with farm related activities and bracelets inside. All registered participants got one pound of
frozen ground beef from the Horning Farms Farm Shop. The ground beef was an awesome freebie that I
think I’ll only get on a farm. It was a
great way to advertise the quality of their beef.
Local. Michigan. Beef.
Food:
There were big coolers on the ground full of 12oz Land O Lakes “Grip’n Go” chocolate milk bottles. I love chocolate milk at finishing lines. It’s really high in calories making the best time to drink it after a run. There had been signs about the finish line chocolate milk along the course and it was mentioned in registration text. It is very refreshing. There were no food items to go with the milk. That was the only downside.
Awards:
Overall 5K winners received awesome personalized wood plagues with the name of the run, date of the run and their winning title. There were cow emblems above the engravement that were the best part of the awards. A short ceremony was held to announce the two winners with times of 24:01 and 26:45. Winner times absolutely blew my mind. The times also show just how hard the 5K course was. I suspect the winners normally run road 5K’s closer to 20 minutes. The runner talking to Jason on the hill by the finish told him this 5K was 4-5 minutes longer for him then his typical 5K. That made me feel a lot better about my time. I always like age group awards at races but at the same time it put less stress on me knowing there weren’t any up for grabs.
City Notes:
Horning Farms is northeast of the city of Manchester. From the farm, East Pleasant Lake Road takes
you to M-52 which leads you into Manchester.
Sharon United Methodist Church was the first landmark we saw at the corner
of the two roads. There was an awesome graveyard
that went right up to the church. I don’t
recall ever seeing an older graveyard so close to a church before without a
fence in between. Some of the graves
were feet away from the church.
We passed Linda’s Diner which seemed to be on a farm field all
by itself. Manchester has amazing older
homes near its downtown. The Raisin
River runs through Manchester and the town has built great viewing areas along
it. The kids watched the Manchester Mill
Dam from a top on Main Street. It’s a
very cool dam. It was built in
1832. River Raisin Park was really beautiful
with multiple walking paths and viewing platforms over the water. The Manchester water tower in the distance
only added to the ambiance of the river scene.
I noticed a lot of chickens in downtown Manchester. They were painted on shop windows and put up
as decorations throughout town. The
chicken broil is a huge event for the city of Manchester every year. Downtown Manchester had beautiful flower pots
and unique shops with fantastic attention to little details such as molding, stain
glass accents, shop window décor etc.
There were stands with historical information about buildings throughout
downtown. There was an alley with picnic
tables and chairs under string lights.
It was a very cozy nature embodied downtown.
Our favorite Manchester shop was River Raisin Merchantile. I immediately knew walking in the door it was going to be an amazing experience. The variety, uniqueness of items, friendliness and design of the store were amazing. I loved the plastic soldier bin the owner had out for kids as you entered. It had a very meaningful message. If I ever own a store I will be remembering that. We bought candy necklaces, a sheep made from sheep’s wool and a pack of donut bath bombs. The bath bombs did not live up to how cool they looked. The candy and sheep were awesome. I wish we could have stayed for the chicken broil but I had a run in Holland later that evening. We will come back for the Manchester Chicken Broil, that’s a promise.
City Sign:
Manchester’s city sign was right where I expected one to be on the outskirts of town welcoming people on a main road. It was a beautiful sign with gold text indentations. The Manchester Fair in August and Chicken Broil in July are both permanently marked on the Manchester city sign which tells me they are big events that the village of Manchester has been holding for many years. The seals of Manchester were in a really unique location on the Manchester sign. They were on either side between two decorative wooden polls. It made the sign look larger and kept the focus on the text about the village. I also took a picture next to the “Village of Manchester” map in downtown before we had found the more official sign.
Other Awesomeness:
I usually put my
research on farms in my “City Notes” section. I’m changing it up with this write-up.
Horning Farms started from German roots in Manchester, MI in 1877. The name “Horning” was originally “Hornung” in German. In 1963 Horning Farms had 60 milking cows after building their first milking parlor. Back in their early days the farm had sheep in addition to cows. Unfortunately, a barn fire in the 1970’s caused so many issues for the farm it ended their sheep farming days and begin the future of dairy farming. They Horning family has three generations of Michigan State graduates. “Bleed Green” and “Spartans for Life” mean something extra special to the Horning family who now have over 330 cows with fifth generation farmers on their piece of paradise across the road from Pleasant Lake in Manchester, Michigan.
( https://www.horning-family-farms.com/blogs/about-us/our-history)
Manchester was a
Saturday morning run in the middle of July’s inferno in Michigan. I had run in Vestaburg the night before and
in Pigeon the night prior to Vestaburg.
I was absolutely exhausted without knowing it. I took off at the start line in Manchester like
I had been resting the whole week, but my week of races caught up with me
fast. I burned out quickly on the course
and struggled a lot. I ran great in Pigeon
Thursday night and steadily declined as my races went on. For me it’s about the cities, villages and
towns and the people and experiences I have.
I want to improve as a runner, but I don’t run with a strong emphasis on
time. I had more fun simply being at the
events even though my pace kept dropping.
Sometimes I feel like a failure because I don’t run “fast” but then I
remember how many adventures my family has been on and how much I’ve traveled
around the state I’ve called home for 34 years.
It’s not something every Michigander can say they have done.
After I got
chocolate milk and listened to the overall 5K awards presentation we stopped in
the Horning Farms Farm Shop. I got my
free pound of ground beef and…
Steaks…cheese and butter.
Jason loves getting
farm fresh diary products, especially butter and cheese. He’s big on trying new cheeses. I love buying from local small Michigan
businesses, which my running allows me to do a lot more of.
I loved how family friendly the Horning Farms Hustle was. They were very creative in making a couch out of hay with their farm sign behind it. They had the 5K event written on a letter board against a milk container. It was a great picture spot. They set up a cow and cat face cut out painting for pictures. There was a baby cow out in the front of the farm for kids to pet. Kids got chocolate milk and farm bags with activities and bracelets inside. There was a one-mile fun run and a playscape with swings and a slide for kids to play at. Our kids enjoyed seeing cows up close again.
When I was running back towards the farm on Lima Center Road a guy caught up with me in a black shirt and red shorts. We talked about how hard the course was. He was very inspiring and funny. I couldn’t keep up with him and we parted ways. Even tough I couldn’t keep pace with him he was a big reason I didn’t stop completely and made it to the finish when I did.
My friend Lyndsay from Stakenas Farms who lives in Ludington came down to help her Horning Farms friends put on their first 5K event. Lyndsay knows the workload involved hosting a 5K event on a farm. I know her presence was appreciated. It was great to see her with her daughters. They were very official race staff with their laptop and spray cans. I know they were working hard the night before the run. I hope more Dairy Farms across the state see how successful running events at farms can be and get inspired to have events of their own in the future. If farm running took off, I would start a new goal to run at farms. There are not many farm runs currently, but I see the embers lighting as more come up across the state.
Course Rating: 5 Stars
Post-Race Food Rating: 3.9 Stars
Swag Rating: 5 Stars
Awards Rating: 3.9 Stars
Horning Farms Hustle Quote:
“I’m not an early bird or a night owl. I am some form of permanently exhausted Pigeon.” -Unknown.
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