devil's cross and a peace offering

finally hit my first cross race of the season sunday. devil's cross in bettendorf, fun course, kinda chilly weather, good people i haven't seen in some time.
-facts: cat 3/4 race; geared 37X17; dropped chain on second lap and was passed by the entire field; went over my handlebars bunny hopping barriers on lap 7; beat one person.
-option 1 (excuses): completely focused on endurance training doesn't allow me to train for top-end ouput like this, i don't race an uber-light carbon rig with carbon rims and tubulars, my steel single speed is built for long distance gravel riding with no regard for weight or race-inspired body position, i had no support or hand-ups
-option 2 (reasons): i really do suck at cross racing. fitness and technical abilities both are lacking tremendously.
pretty sure option 2 is the more accurate explanation of my finish on sunday. regardless, it was good to see the iowa city crew and some of the locals. well run race. after dropping my chain and getting dropped by the field i decided to have fun practicing hopping the barriers rather than dismounting. first three went well, #4 caught my rear wheel and sent me over the bars providing some entertainment for the spectators which led to a slightly larger group demanding i try again on the 8th and final lap (which i had NO intentions of doing but couldn't let the mob down). cleaned them in rather ugly fashion, finished, changed into some warmer clothes and grabbed a beer. the race hurt...a lot. man i'd rather suffer an ultra than the acute pain of these races.
monday brought a trip to cedar falls to see the mastermind behind transiowa to drop off my registration and offer guitar ted some gifts as though he has some say in the weather on the last weekend of april. was good to share some war stories with him and get excited about t.i. again. given sunday's performance and monday's visit i'm thinking this sunday is gonna involve skipping the cross race and getting in a gravel century.