Friday's Featured 5k of the Week - Blackberry Farm Spring Gallop

The Blackberry Farm Spring Gallop, presented by the Fox Valley Park District occurs on the site of Blackberry Farm in Aurora.

The 2015 race date is - tomorrow (3/28).  They do have onsite day-of-event registration if you are interested at this link - Official race site.

I ran this in 2014, just like tomorrow the weather was perfect for running, a little chilly at the start, but sunny and refreshing.

The course exists entirely on the footprint of Blackberry Farm, an excellent location which is comprised of a living history museum of pioneer times, kids train, paddle boats, ponies, a carousel, and much much more.  And with the course, you get to see most of that too!

The 2014 course started off in the parking area and ran the perimeter of the lot before heading towards the street and a quick hairpin onto a paved path.  The paved path led to a crushed gravel path which led to a turnaround point, so at times, in one section of the course, there were runners heading each direction.  Of course, this is good for the motivation, never want someone to witness some slow steps.  The best part of this gravel path was the suspension bridge - and yes, it was a true suspension bridge.  Not a very long one, but it did bounce with runner steps, making the runners need to adjust their steps based on the traffic on the bridge at the same time.  Definitely added a unique experience to the run.  This bridge has to be crossed twice, due to the out-and-back nature of this portion of the trail.  One the way back the gravel path leads to a quick jaunt on grass and then onto the paved paths of Blackberry Farm.  The course even goes past the finish line, but with a mile left to go, giving a nice little tease to the runners.  This part of the course then winds with several rights and lefts through the Pioneer Village portion of Blackberry Farm.  Not only does it wind right/left, but there are several small grade up/down hills as well, which aren't exactly visible, but start to become noticeable.  After a few twists and turns, runners start to wonder if they are just in some maze, but then the course heads back onto the grass briefly and then deposits the runners back to the parking lot.  A sprint past the Finish line (again), then a tight hairpin turn for the final sprint TO the Finish Line.

The final portion of the course is pretty cool, because after a mile of winding path, very close to the finish (runners can hear finish line noise during the entire final mile), the runners then emerge right near the finish line.  BUT, they aren't finished, they have to run up the parking lot, while watching others run towards the finish line.  Then hairpin to make that final stretch.  This makes for a great finish line setting and really motivating to those who love to "kick it" at the end.

The course really consists of 4 main sections.  1) The start and open parking lot  2) the out-and-back gravel trail and bridge  3) the Pioneer village with ups/downs and rights/lefts and 4) the sprint past the finish line and then to the finish line.   Because of so much variety, the race really seems to fly by - it "feels" like a short race, just because time really does fly when having fun.

To complete the ambiance of the race - prizes are handed out from the back of a hay wagon!

Because of the terrain changes, elevation changes, curb crossings, suspension bridges, grass crossings, crushed gravel - this definitely counts as a "trail race" in my book!

Still time to register tomorrow morning!

Official race site