The Perils of Running a Race on a Civil War Battlefield; 2 years later

The Battlefields of Antietam

One hundred and forty-nine years ago the bloodiest battle of the Civil War was fought on the battle fields of Antietam. Two years ago I ran a half marathon on the same battle field, and I swore I would not do it again, but then I needed a race to train for and I decided on this. Time heals all wounds.

The Freedom Run takes place in and around the Sharpsburg area of West Virginia. It really feels like a community race, but with the competency of a larger more established one.

I got to the race at the last minute (naturally), but luckily the parking attendants were there to tell me where to go. I preregistered so I could pick up my packet at the registration tent and I dropped off my bags. I forgot to take my gels out of the bag before I dropped it off. I will say this: the port-o-potty situation was phenomenal. If anything, there were too many places to relieve oneself, but I'm glad the race organized erred on that side of the fence.

The race started and I don't exactly know how I was timed since I didn't see anything to active the chip in my running number, but I got a finishing time at the end so I guess it happened. And off we were. The course was reversed from the last time, meaning, from miles 3-9 there were some heavy hills. Rolling hills I can handle, but I mean some steep incline quad killers. Did I forget to mention that it was 40 degrees and raining? There was also that. I decided to wear shorts, a singlet, and gloves. I was ok with my apparel choice, although it was a little chilly by mile 8.

The first part of the marathon was all road followed by a mile or so trail run. Then the most fun part of it because of the cows and horses, but also the most grueling due to the severity of the inclines. Next up was the actual battle fields of Antietam, which was very inspiring to run through. Whenever my legs hurt or I couldn't breathe, I would just look out onto the distance and imagine dying men, their blood turning the ground red. Suddenly, running this stupid race didn't seem so terrible. The last four or so miles were rolling down hills. You can kind of get a feel for how difficult the course was by noting my splits below:

1 - 6:35
2 - 6:18
3 - 7:00
4 - 7:10
5 - 6:38
6 - 6:52
7 - 7:13
8 - 7:03
9 - 6:37
10 - 7:08
11 - 6:38
12 - 6:44
13 - 6:28

My worst splits are the ones where there are the largest hills. Actually some of those splits don't really make sense, but oh well. I think mile 7 was where the giant hills was. I don't know what happened on mile 10. And I didn't realize miles 3 and 4 were that bad, although they were very hilly. It's interesting that my last mile was my almost the fastest.

The finish line was in the local stadium. Normally I'd stay to watch people finish but it was freezing and rainy so I decided to chill in my car. At the finish line there were pizza slices abound. Warm, nourishing pizza as well as other post race snacks. Also you could shower at the nearby university gym and warm up that way.

Even though I wouldn't recommend this course to reach your personal best, the race itself is great. The people are friendly, the course is historically minded, has local atmosphere, charges a reasonable entry fee, etc. Then afterwards you can dine in or around Shepardstown, WV, which has some great cafes and restaurant. Or, travel south ten miles to Harper's Ferry and go to that John Brown Wax Museum.