The Great Pumpkin Haul

 The first annual Great Pumpkin Haul was last weekend. It was a different from any race I've run before and had a lot of firsts for me.

Hop the hay bales

It was the first time I raced carrying a load the whole time. The first time I've done a race that was laps. A first time on a first annual race. And the first time I've raced with my son, Kellan.

Or go around them

You start by hitting the pumpkin patch. The race was held at the botanic gardens in Littleton, CO. We showed up late, but there were still plenty of gourds to choose from. There's an urge to go big, but I've done enough farmer's carries in the gym to know that running 2 miles with a big pumpkin would not be pleasant. But I didn't want to breeze it either, so I chose middle of the road sized orange spheroid. My so, on the other hand, has no such experience and against my advice, chose one not much smaller than mine. The pumpkins are weighed and it's off to the starting line.

The course was pretty mild, no hills or big elevation changes. Obstacles consisted of hay bales, some bungee cords stretched over the bridges, a few trees in the road and, of course, the pumpkins. Signs litter the course making suggestions such as "Left hand only" or "over your head to the hay bales", which significantly increase the difficulty.

I found it to be pretty easy. This was also the shortest race I've done, coming in at 2 miles consisting of 1 mile mile lap done twice. The terrain was comfy and I have big enough shoulders and long enough arms to transition my pumpkin to several different carry positions. Although such odd carrying (like behind the head) lead to some slight bruising on upper arms and base of the skull.

Kellan had a much harder time. He was pretty much forced to hold his pumpkin in front of him the whole time, and as mentioned above, it was too big for him. He got a pretty decent bruise on his hip from it bouncing against him for the better part of an hour. I spent the majority of the 2nd mile walking with him, but he refused to let me help share his load. He wanted to do the whole thing himself and he did. I did make him power through the home stretch to finish strong though.

Victory!

The interesting thing about this race, is you can essentially make it as hard or as easy as you want. Firstly, by choosing your pumpkin, but also you can register as a 2 person team and split the load. There didn't appear to be any rules about how to carry the pumpkins. I didn't see any backpacks, but I did see a few people with the gourds wrapped up in their t-shirts like a big round knapsack.

Prizes were for fastest male and female finishers and for the 3 largest pumpkins carried. The biggest was 44lb., 2nd was 42 and 3rd was a woman carrying a 41 pounder. Times were estimates as they didn't have a proper timing system set up. There was a clock though, and Kellan and I crossed at 44 minutes and change. Being this was the first time the event has been held, I expect a lot of the wrinkles to be ironed out by next year.

All in all it was fun and I was glad to be able to get out with The Boy and get in some exercise.

Soon to be Jack-O-Lanterns

Reel Rock 7

Went and checked out the latest installment of Reel Rock last night for my birthday.

I was really impressed with it. Very well done and I'd say the best climbing "movie" (it's actually 4 short films) I've seen to date. Some gut wrenching scenes and lot's of LOLs. It has everything from sport climbing, to hard core alpine, so great off width stuff and amazing solo content. Even a little bouldering in there. If you've watched any of the climbing films and videos that have come out over the last decade or so, you'll likely recognize most of the people in the film.

I saw it on the CO School of Mines campus out in Golden, CO. I haven't been to an event on a college campus in over 15 years, but not much has changed. There were a ton of people there and getting keg beer in a red plastic cup was nostalgic.

Only short coming was a couple hiccups on the play back. The computer they used went off a couple times. It was funny to watch the guy run back there and put in his username and password real quick. Second time was a good crash and it took probably 20+ minutes to get the movie back up. The young crowd didn't seem to mind too much though.

But the film is great, great, great. If you have even a passing interest in climbing you'll love it. If you have no interest in climbing, I think you'll still really like it. It is still touring the world. Check www.reelrocktour.com for dates and locations near you. I highly recommend it.