While most people think it is unusual to jump over fire, crawl under barbed wire and climb over walls on the weekend, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) is weird…like really weird. Before you know it, OCR has infiltrated all aspects of your life and is affecting how you dress, how you act and what you think is normal. Let’s take a step back and see what makes us so bizarre:

1. Mud in unusual places:

Medal? Check. Finisher’s t-shirt? Check. A piece of the course hidden between my legs? Check. Let’s start with one of the more normal situations. You get mud literally everywhere and you’re cool with that. If you have never taken a shower after a race, you surely have come home with some “bonus pieces of the venue” still hidden inside your shorts or top.

Cody Peyton, Nathan Palmer and BVP stop for a muddy pose at a Spartan Race.

2. Controlling my bowels:

Every race morning it is like clockwork, get up, get dressed, poop and head to the race. It is not a random occurrence, it is calculated. I think about going to the bathroom before my races and it happens…every time…without fail. For the last couple of years like metronome, I have become a master of my bowels. #poopcontrol #poopouri

Honey Badger knows control.

3. Dryrobe:

Here walk around in this over-sized coat that’s like wearing a sleeping bag. Not only do people not think it is weird, people are jealous. Walking around OCRWC in my dryrobe when it is cold or after World’s Toughest Mudder, I had numerous people talk about how they wish they had one. By comparison walk around your local town like that and people will wonder if the snow-pocalypse is coming.  If you get the chance to try one on, you will agree. #getchanged #staywarm

Evan Perperis and Brenna Calvert rocking their dryrobes.

4. Peeing my pants:

I thought I stopped peeing my pants when I was a little kid. Surprise! Thanks to events like World’s Toughest Mudder I have peed my pants more as an adult his 30s than I ever did in the previous two decades.  Peeing my pants…yeah I do that. #LegHeater

Joel Forsyth “splashing around” at Toughest Mudder LA.

5. Spandex:

Sure I could pick up a new pair of Marena Sport compression pants that are slightly larger, but I don’t want to. That’s extra fabric and extra weight for racing. I’ll just keep wearing this ball hugging pair I currently own. Yeah, I know you can see everything, don’t care, I’m an OCR athlete. Too much information? Maybe, but for some that’s not enough information, if so check out my article “Going to the Xtreme: Spandex”.

Christopher Balven in his Marena Sport compression pants at the Abominable Snow Race.

Let’s face it. OCR is weird. The concept of paying for course designers to torture you is weird. In a society where people wait for the closest parking spot in Walmart, you pay to carry buckets of rocks up a ski mountain only to dump them out in the same place you started. While others are trying to recover from binge drinking on Friday night, you’re up at 6am on Sunday trying to recover from the previous day of racing so you can do it all again today. In a society that is always trying to find the next piece of tech to make their lives easier, you are looking for the next harder race to challenge yourself. So embrace your weirdness OCR athletes, it is what makes this community so great.

Matt Campione after his recent 2nd place at a Spartan Race showing his new plaque…..or more likely his Marena Sport compression pants.

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