Tough Mudder is celebrating their 5th Birthday right now and they threw a Birthday Party that couldn’t be beat in Atlanta last weekend. Mudder Legionaires sporting multi-colored 10x and up headbands have crowed that this was the best TM they have ever done. There were so many people absolutely ecstatic after this race you would have thought that there was free beer and beef jerky at the end. Oh yeah, there was.
High Rock Challenge in it's third year offered a solo version of the course this year. They are the state of New York’s oldest obstacle course race and have been putting the team event on for thirteen years. This also is another great event put on In memory of NYC Police Officer John Kelly who was killed in the line of duty, so being retired law enforcement, I was honored and excited to be running in this race.
This past weekend I headed to compete in the Warrior Dash in Lexington, MO at The Big River Ranch. I was eager to see how this venue was going to create the most bad-ass day possible for its competitors.
This was definitely a changing event with mental challenges and obstacles mixed together. This combination was a change of pace. Grit 'N Wit tested me in more ways than one.
For the third consecutive spring, Muckfest returned to the New England area. After a long and snowy winter, the national race series has quickly become the unofficial start to the obstacle race season for many runners. They remain one of the few races that are popular enough to successfully span over both weekend days. Along with being an entertaining event, the primary focus of Muckfest is to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis, with 100% of the team fundraising dollars supporting the charity.
Savage Race again has returned to Georgia and is again at the beautiful Moonlight Stables Equestrian Center. While the weather the week of the event was less than perfect for building the course it was great for making a wet, slick, muddy mess. Even with the rain Savage still managed to pull off a great course and some fun new obstacles.
BattleFrog Carolinas just took the top spot on my Race Resume as the toughest overall Obstacle Course Race I have ever done. I got my butt kicked. Repeatedly. “Misery loves company” may be a popular cliché, but I gained no solace from the fact that many “Elite” racers who seemingly NEVER fail an obstacle were forced to hand in their bracelets after hours of trying to comply with the “Complete all obstacles rule”.
The drive to Binghamton was long and after the day before of racing two races, I expected the day and race to be a challenge both physically and mentally. As soon as I arrived, I was impressed by the obstacles visible from the entrance of the course and parking area, these were not obstacles made out of cheap building materials or someone that was building an obstacle course for the first time. They were all designed perfect and built just as well as any obstacles you see at the big name OCR’s.
I started the last wave of the day at 2pm for the Spartan Race Tri-State Beast with mostly volunteers as this was the volunteer wave. It may have been the end of the day, but Spartan pre-race announcer Dustin Dorough was able to recite his pre-race speech without missing a beat and faster than ever.
Spartan Race is all about ripping people out of their comfort zones, testing their boundaries, and focusing a spotlight on any holes in an athlete’s training. Nowhere is this more obvious that in their 12h hurricane heat.
