The Bi-annual running of Savage Race Georgia is rapidly becoming a tradition for OCR athletes who want to run in a truly fun and challenging race that seems to test all facets of a person’s athletic abilities and mental toughness. This past race did not disappoint anyone who was lucky enough to be there.
The Running Scared 5k started in 2013 and is now the official opening event of Boone Hall Fright Nights in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina located just outside of Charleston. Fright Nights is a month long festival that is a combination of a haunted hayride, a medieval haunted castle, a 3D nightmare adventure, and a full blown zombie town. The Running Scared 5k kicks off all of the Fright Night festivities leading up to Halloween and includes a number of side shows, vendors, and a variety of food tents.
This past weekend marked the end of this year racing season for me and I finished it with a small little race, The Dirty Girl. I had done this race a couple of years earlier and this is one of those I called a startup race and perfect for those who just want a taste of obstacle racing.
The Mighty Run was developed to raise money for care provided on The Masonic Care Community campus. The Mighty Mites course rose over $12,000 to benefit its Child Care Center (the Center cares for children ages 8 weeks to 5 years old from all over the community). The Mighty Run raised almost $38,000 for its rehabilitation center. Everyone connected with the Mighty Run, clearly felt a great deal of pride on Saturday, despite the rain and cold, participants ended the course with smiles and energy!
Spartan started with the obstacles right from the get go on this race. After the initial climb, you had a ridiculously long barbed wire crawl through mud and water. It felt like a quarter mile, but the water felt great with the heat. My arms and knees were torn up after this one. The next obstacle was the monkey bars. I gave them a shot, but I couldn't hold on, since the “bars” were more like pipes, and I have tiny hands. So on to the burpees for me.
This was the fourth straight year BoldrDash was being run at Yawgoo Valley Ski Area & Water Park in Exeter Rhode Island and it was easy to see that BoldrDash had a great idea how to best use the ski mountain as an obstacle course. They designed the course to use the mountain in a zigzag (snake) pattern which took you up and then down the mountain many times. This was great for several reasons as it created a course that was a challenge, and as well used every inch of the mountain to its fullest potential. The four mile course consisted of over twenty five obstacles on a mountain that has some very challenging vertical ascents and descents.
As we wove our way in and out of the vineyards obstacles became apparent. Some of the obstacles were hay bales, cargo climbs, walls, monkey bars and tunnels. None of these required our Burpee pass so we continued on in hopes of using them at the more advanced obstacles. There were tire drags, spider webs and sand bag carries
Participants were immediately faced with a deep and slippery mud pit that had people laughing and taking melfies (mud selfies). The trails were well marked and the terrain was fantastic with streams, hills and trails cutting in and out the conservation area. With over 1200 acres of woodlands, there was a lot to choose from.
I arrived excited but after talking to these seasoned Tough Mudder's (those that have completed two or more are known as Legionnaires) I was now even more ready to rock and roll. Time passed pretty fast and before I knew it I was at the first starting line and ready to go. At this point we had someone really pumping up the group and getting us to stretch. We were then allowed to begin and I started to get myself in gear and noticed the group was stopping a short distance ahead as we had not actually started the course yet. The group was now being pumped up by Tough Mudder Motivator Sean Corvelle and he is very good at his job.
I did a fun race this past weekend with a girlfriend. It was the Lozilu race which took place in Broomfield, Colorado. Normally I steer away from girl only runs as they are not as challenging as I would like. But that is because I have over 50 OCR's and these runs are great for 1st timers, with no pressure of elite anything. It is to go out and laugh your butt off and to play, like when you were kids.
