I am (relatively) old. I am slow. I have a surgically repaired broken ankle and a torn meniscus. I am also an OCR Athlete. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I tell people all the time, “Just try Obstacle Course Racing, it can change your life - It changed mine.”
Find out who won and who fell short on the initial Mud Run Guide "Best of OCR" for 2014. With over 60,000 votes cast the races were often very close and our community proved they are the strongest in sports.
This was my second Tough Mudder so I was very excited to know I would be able to take the Legionnaires loop this time and do the "Fire In Your Hole” obstacle. As I dressed in the parking lot, I was pretty impressed to see the large turnout for a Sunday, the second day of the event.
Schlachter, commonly referred to as "the most connected person in the sport of OCR" or "center of the OCR universe" takes on the role of Supreme Editor-in-Chief of Mud Run Guide (mudrunguide.com) on top of her duties as host & producer of Obstacle and Adventure Weekly, co-host on OCR Warrior, founder of Dirt in Your Skirt, subject matter expert & columnist for obstacleracing.About.com, and writer for Mud & Obstacle Magazine.
We ran slow. We took a lot of time. We were afraid that we’d miss the cutoff and be removed from the course, but the folks from Tough Mudder assured us that they were there with us until the triumphant end. As we worked our way toward Electroshock Therapy we were dumbfounded to see a vast array of Staff people, volunteers, and fellow racers who hung around and waited on us so that they could cheer us on and encourage us as we crossed that Finish Line. It was a beautiful and moving experience.
In early 2013 I was driving by a local farm that was hosting something called the Rugged Maniac. I didn't really have a clue what this was at the time but the billboard looked cool and I wanted to find out more.
This being my first Merrell Down & Dirty Race, I was not sure what to expect when it came to turn out so I was pretty impressed right from the start. It was sunny, but a little cold with a brisk wind, yet the turnout was well in the thousands. I made my way over to the event area and checked in with registration within minutes. I surveyed the event and saw participants of all ages and gender, Merrell Down & Dirty clearly has built a fan base that covers just about everyone.
I was able to walk around and get a good look at a lot of the obstacles and terrain, and then had the opportunity to practice on the “Platinum Rig”, along with other racers in the dark. The energy even on Friday night was amazing and beyond anything I had experienced to date, including both my Vermont Beast's.
The only easy day was yesterday, this is my life motto/creed which I borrowed from the Navy SEAL's as it is their motto/creed. As I noted in my Bone Frog pre-race article, this event has been one of my most anticipated races all year! The day was just as it should be for a Navy SEAL OCR, it was pouring rain and not exactly warm.
I have been counting the days since participating in my first BattleFrog 15K in NJ (August 2, 2014) and the time was finally here! I volunteered in NJ and had a blast and gained a great deal of respect for BattleFrog, so I decided to take a PTO day from work Friday and drive to down Thursday night to volunteer all day Friday. I was offered a media pass by MRG and didn’t need to volunteer, but I made a commitment to Oscar and Lex and wanted to honor it.
