It wouldn’t be a complete year of racing without traveling to Snohomish, Washington to take on the second in a two-weekend Spartan race series at Meadow Wood Equestrian Center. Known for its brutally muddy US Championship series super and sprint in the spring, the beast and sprint weekend is known as the final piece in the Seattle trifecta – a keystone OCR for the area.
The 2018 OCR season has been a real eye-opener for me. I’ve already dealt with a medial DNF, earned a nice broken foot and, as I type this, sit here with all kinds of patterns of kinesiology tape on my back, applied by a chiropractor at a licensed PT facility. As I age, I find I’m more susceptible to injury, and those recovery times seem to lengthen after every birthday.
I’ll begin by saying I live in Portland, Oregon, but this “Portland” race is actually located about 40 minutes away, so there will be no location bias here. The Portland Spartan Sprint is hands down the best Spartan Race location in the nation. Facts are fact, Mud Run Guide fans!
Terrain Race is definitely worth checking out – not just for the absolute steal of a deal, but also for its challenging obstacles and the coveted monkey medal waiting for you at the end of your adventure.
How do you react when you come across grip-focused obstacles? For some, developing grip strength is a difficult challenge, that is sometimes overlooked while training. That’s what Spencer Mahoney of OCR Beast realized when he added the new GRIPWOD to his personal online training line.
Yes. The second coming of Spartan Race Big Bear was given the moniker “Soul Crusher” by the Trailmaster himself, Steve Hammond. I honestly don’t think I could have come up with a more fitting name.
I’m sure by now you’ve all seen the reports out of Australia, where a Liz Llorente “smashed” the world record for most burpees in 60 minutes. Barstool Sports has been circulating this video with a very candid critique of the mother from Melbourne.
Welcome back to the absolutely beautiful Pacific Northwest, where Spartan, once again, held its highly anticipated Seattle-area US National Series. It was an opportunity for OCR’s top athletes to secure their position in the US Championship in West Virginia, while also providing a rematch of sorts for those who were physically, mentally, and spiritually defeated after the mud fest that was the Seattle Super in 2017.
Ever run a race in the Washington or Oregon areas and hear a tremendous call and response of, “How Deep? Balls Deep?” Yeah, I have too, and I was completely floored by the movement started by OCR enthusiast Andrew Hooper, called Beasts OCR, the reigning biggest team for many of the Portland, Seattle and Boise obstacle course races over the years!
If you were looking for an opportunity to combine your love of OCR with all things green, massive flame thrower-powered fire pits and a few celebratory beers, you’ll be disappointed if you missed Terrapin Events’ Dirty Leprechaun 5k at Lee Farms, just outside of Portland, OR. A muddy 5K with slick terrain, natural and homemade obstacles and frequent inclines, participants took to the course looking to reach that pot of gold(en delicious beer).
