OCR keeps me active and is a fun community to be a part of. It gives me something to push towards and keeps me reminded there is always room to grow. OCR forces you to be adaptable and constantly seek self-improvement. I think all of these things are important for a balanced life.
My weekend started early Friday morning. REALLY early Friday morning. Walking with all my camping gear to the train station and then to the bus pickup spot in Utrecht, Netherlands. I was accompanied by teammates Daan, Wesley, and his girlfriend Nicole. And joined at Utrecht by Laurens and Ewoud. As part of the Dutch Mud Men, we prepped to head over to the United Kingdom to invade Rat Race Dirty Weekend.
Each time I stand at the entrance to race, I feed off the energy of everyone else to get me pumped to start off from the entrance with a burst of speed. I can’t help but enjoy the spirit of what these things are about to me, the spirit of pushing yourself to a new height and doing things you wouldn’t normally do. I started doing Tough Mudder thanks to a friend at work
I can’t applaud Bonefrog enough for really exploring and utilizing all the best areas for this race. Bonefrog runs three simultaneous distances Sprint (3-miles), Challenge (8 miles) and Tier 1 (11-ish miles). Since I’m a glutton for punishment, I signed up for Tier 1.
To call Rat Race Dirty Weekend just an obstacle race would be an understatement. The weekend is about 30% about the race and 70% about everything else that takes place. The course set on a country estate looking like something out of Downton Abbey - a large English manor home set on sprawling estate grounds.
The SISU IRON is an epic 30+ hour variety endurance event that should strike fear in your heart. It’s reputation is that it will challenge you in ways that you haven’t been challenged before, and there is no way for you to predict what the key challenges are. The organizer’s goal is to find the chink in the armor of even the strongest athletes.
The Olympics are talked about every year on Facebook posts, blogs, podcasts and websites like Mud Run Guide. This year things have been taken up a notch with articles about Pentathlon, laser run, USAOCR and more. OCR enthusiasts talk of legitimacy, sponsors, money pouring into the sport and how great it will be. However, like a good buzzkill...
Spartan Race made its annual Beast stop at Mountain Creek Resort in Vernon, New Jersey. Heavy storms rolled into the area early Saturday morning causing every wave of athletes to be postponed 30 minutes. The extra time allowed Spartans to prepare for 13.8 miles of grueling climbs and 32 obstacles which would heavily tax the upper body.
I was fortunate enough to have Brenna Calvert brought to my attention by one of her teammates, Evan. I had fun learning a bit more about this Badass Woman in the OCR community. Not only has she taken on many exciting challenges, but she is a strong voice for OCR and love for our community. Her athletic accomplishments are impressive, but she is super down to earth and it was fun getting to know her a bit better.
It finally happened, after 5 seasons in obstacle course racing, I finally made my way to a Tough Mudder event. For years now I've been saying the only event they put on that I am interested in is the annual World's Toughest Mudder but this year they changed that with the introduction of their 6 race America's Toughest Mudder series. After the "South" event, I can now say that I am officially onboard with Mudder Nation.
