The West Coast debut of BattleFrog has been overwhelmingly positive, but not without trepidations. Attendance has been light to moderate, but those who have gone have vocally enjoyed themselves tremendously. The initial grumbling about the “San Francisco” race being held at Lake Sonoma, which is a rather a long distance from the actual City by the Bay slowly quieted, as social media photos began to emerge of breathtaking views and promises of impressive elevation.

What could be more fun than running an obstacle race on a beautiful Saturday morning in Southern California, with snow on the nearby mountains, and warm Santa Ana winds blowing? How about bypassing the finish line, and going around and around on the course to see how many laps you can put on in a day?

The venue is located on beautiful wooded acreage and provided racers with an absolutely gorgeous multi-elevation terrain that looped in and out of ravines and gullies. It was called the Abominable Course and they offer three seasons to participate in this race –spring, summer and winter. Their slogan: “Unleash your inner Yeti!”

Winter racing has a few extra challenges compared with moderate temperature events. You have to plan how many layers are required based on an estimated time outdoors in the cold. You have to watch the weather to determine departure times so you can arrive at the venue in plenty of time to park and pick up your race kit and you have to hope that there are no road closures, accidents or rambling deer along the way to slow you down. Today, we were fortunate and made the 2 hour journey north with no incidents and with ample time to prepare and meet our fellow racers.