“What the Hell am I doing here?” I thought to myself as I stood in a pack of about 40 men and women in the Elite heat of the BattleFrog Race in WV. My only previous OCR experience had been almost a year earlier at the Super Spartan in VA. Despite running in the Open heat, I’d put up a pretty competitive time which gave me some confidence heading into the BattleFrog race; however, my confidence began to fade once I arrived.
Mud Ninja is a small, local race that offers just about everything that the “Big Boys” of OCRs have to offer without the exorbitant prices and huge crowds that can make running in national races a bit of a headache at times.
The course was 3.2 miles long and only had 12 obstacles. All in all that's a decent obstacle to distance ratio. However, the layout made it worse because of the way the obstacles were bunched together. Half of the obstacles were bunched on top of each other over the last 300 yards of the course and these were the best obstacles. More on that in a minute.
The Canadian Mud Queens is one of the newer OCR groups I have joined on Facebook. These ladies are passionate about their races, and about helping others newer to the sport with questions ranging from the best gear to how to train hard for success. I had the opportunity to conduct an over Facebook interview with Kelly Ripley, one of the founders of the Canadian Mudd Queens.
Despite my limitations, I had a great time. The course was not as challenging as the Spartan Sprint, for example, but the obstacles were fun and interesting. There were several low crawls, two under barbed wire and one under a fence. The barbed wire crawl was a pit of muddy water, so the wire was high enough from the ground that you weren't forced to put your face into the water.
With Warrior Dash being one of the larger race venues in OCR, I thought I would see how it stands up. With impending rough weather a good possibility on the forecast, I arrived at the event. The parking ($10) was well executed and very orderly. Creating lines of vehicles as we arrived, it was kept very organized. From there through the entrance gate to the event under the giant signage emblazoned with the Warrior Dash logo.
At this location for the Merrell Down & Dirty series I will have to say that the 5k distance was pretty easy for me and the obstacles were semi-challenging. Everything ran smoothly, I liked their setup, location, vendors, announcers, volunteers and how organized everything was. Also just the enthusiasm from everyone I encountered was superb and I will definitely do this race series again and recommend it to my friends.
This past weekend in Utah was huge for over 2 dozen Colorado Obstacles Racers. We all completed our Spartan Trifecta. For those of you who do not know what that means, it is completing the 3 distances in the Spartan racing series. The Sprint which is usually 4 + miles, the Super 8 + miles and the Beast 10+. By all accounts we completed a marathon of obstacle racing. My races were 27 miles total with over 90 obstacles.
Ever have a certain product that you use just about every day and can’t be without? Well for me, this is it. Geigerrig Hydration backpacks are simply one of a kind and stand-alone from the rest of the competition! Geigerrig Hydration packs are a total game changer! What makes these hydration packs different from others is its pressurized system to squirt out water wherever needed. All you do is pump it (it comes with a easy to reach hand pump) to create the pressure & you're ready to drink or spray it. They are one of my favorite things I own for OCR’s.
Upon leaving my hotel for Battlefrog’s Greater DC event the receptionist said to keep an eye out for deer in the road while driving to the venue. To me, nothing else can better explain just how “out there” this venue was. And it made for an excellent race. From the race, to the festival, to the volunteers and workers, this was one very well executed event. Despite being new to the OCR scene, Battlefrog has set a very high bar.
