I have been anticipating and looking forward to them for many months. Based on my experience at last year’s Tri-State BattleFrog event/race at the same venue I had lofty expectations for this year’s event/race to be amazing and even better. Unfortunately, the 2015 Tri-State BattleFrog did not deliver.
What better place to hold a Spartan race than in the gorgeous mountains of Breckenridge, CO? The Beaver Run Lodge was the host site of this Beast and Sprint weekend. With elevation reaching 11, 238 ft. and temperatures that vary by 30 degrees from night to day, runners were challenged not only by the course, but by Mother Nature. T
I anxiously jump out of bed early and check to see what the weather has in store for us; this is one of the first challenges when racing outdoors in a Canadian climate. The ideal weather is one that is not too cool so we can reduce our layers and not too hot so we can push through without the worry of dehydration. We were in luck, warm and overcast with the risk of showers later in the evening. We loaded the car and headed off to Commando Paintball in Ottawa.
This weekend, I went to the Irvine Lake Mud Run, a semi-annual local event in Southern California. This event makes no claim to having the best, newest, or nastiest obstacles. It doesn't have a huge amount of elevation gain, and there are no penalties for skipped or failed obstacles. There are few shirtless studs or their female counterparts in tight compression shorts and sports bras showing off their spectacular abs to onlookers. In fact, other than a single heat in the early morning, there were no timing chips at all. And boy, was it fun!
The Mogollon Monster Mudder a 5k race with over 30+ man-made and natural obstacles returns to town of Payson, Arizona at the rodeo grounds for another great race for a third year in a row. Last year in only their second year they had 345 participants. This year was proof this race is definitely growing in the OCR Arizona community.
This was my second Down & Dirty event since last year and both events had a great festival area in common. The turnout for Down & Dirty events (at least the two I have gone to) is high and varies from friends and families hanging out which makes for a good time and lots of smiles and celebrations throughout the event/day.
The festival area was much like the venue used for the event, a laid back and relaxed group of racers, family, friends, spectators, volunteers, and staff. Some were hanging out under the trees and out of the direct sunlight as it was a very hot day (I know several racers got sun poisoning even with sunblock on). Several families were hanging out as well with little kids that were having a good time all day.
Since Warrior Dash runs races about every other weekend, I hold them to a higher standard. As an established race series with so many events nationwide, Warrior Dash should have most of their problems fixed through trial and error. Chances are if you are reading this, you have done at least one Warrior Dash before, so I will spare some of the details normally associated with a race review instead focusing on aspects specific to the Illinois race, planned for both Saturday and Sunday. Of note, I ran in the competitive wave, so my comments reflect the experience around the first half of Saturday’s race.
Mad River Mountain is probably one of the few locations in the country where you can run up ski slopes, through the woods, and on rolling hills in the middle of a cornfield all while running a route just over 10km. That alone was going to make the venue worth the cost of registration but the way Savage Race utilized the area made it an event to remember. If anyone was weary of the series’ recent spotlight, being considered as a one of the up-and-coming contenders to the big three of Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, and Tough Mudder, all doubts should now be shattered.
Your first Mud Run is an event normally geared for new athletes to OCR, however it's proximity to Tuxedo, NY coincidence with the Spartan Sprint there as well as charity partner made it an enticing mud run to check out. I wanted to write about an event/race that first time racers would want to try so they had something to read and know what they would be getting themselves into, and most importantly the event/race is put on purely to raise money for the amazing charity Hope for Heroes that funds the life-saving work on childhood cancer and blood disorders at Columbia University Medical Center.
