Next Obstacle Course Race: Rogue Runner!

I'm training for my next obstacle course: the new Rogue Runner race to be held on Battle Mountain near Warrenton, VA on October 20. I am totally stoked for this one. The obstacles are already going up, with full descriptions on their site.

Brand New OCR

While it's an inaugural event, I am confident that it is being well organized by some talented individuals. I spoke with one of the race founders, Andy L., via Skype and was super impresses with everything that's in the works for this race.

In planning their first two races (this one in VA in and one the following month in GA), Andy and his partners raced in and observed many different obstacle course races and mud runs, picking the best obstacles and inventing some new ones of their own to include in the Rogue Runner. The decided to imitate the best elements of the most popular races, leave out the not-cool aspects and create a day that is both challenging, fun for families and entertaining.

The course itself looks like it will be challenging: the six miles starts out with an intense elevation climb, with the obstacles set up evenly throughout the course -- and there's plenty of them, over 25 at last count.

Family Day at the Races

My husband and sister and I are all running in the early morning heat, and we've got three of our kids signed up for the kids race around noon. They are really looking forward to it -- my oldest son (age 9) has been working out faithfully to get ready.

I definitely am more motivated while working out with this race less than a month away. Do upcoming races change the intensity and duration of your workouts?

P.S. If you're interested in running the Rogue Runner, discount code ROGUE MO gets you $15 off your fees.

Photos from The Mid-Atlantic Super Spartan 2012

My husband and I couldn't wait to see photos from our first-ever obstacle course race, the Spartan Mid-Atlantic Super held in Leesburg, VA a couple weeks ago.

None of ours were exactly epic or picked as promo photos for Spartan blog or Facebook use, but it was definitely cool to see ourselves doing the obstacles.

The balance logs were more a matter of concentration than difficulty. I made it across (after a slightly shaky start) no problem.

There I am under the barbed wire -- I rolled for most of it and passed a few dudes and another woman -- so yes, you can race when you're crawling/ rolling.

The mud pits felt great after a long section of running -- very cooling and a relief from the heat.

The dudes with the gladiator sticks or whatever they are were more funny than anything -- they are cushioned and don't hurt at all.

And I didn't feel like I was going to collapse afterward -- it was more a feeling of, "Oh, that's all? I could have run faster!"

I guess I'll need to prove that next time. 


 

No Post-Race Blues Allowed!

The obstacle course race I looked forward to for months is over. I finished the Spartan Super, and now it's back to regular life. And there's this natural let-down, the feeling you get when you no longer have something big to look forward to that for so long was motivating you in more ways than you'd even realized.

But I refuse to be depressed about this, even one bit. I had so much fun doing my first obstacle course race!I wish there was another one this coming weekend. I want to run faster, go harder and do it even better than I did last weekend.

Barbed Wire Mud Crawl at the Mid-Atlantic Super Spartan 2012. Photo from Facebook.

And so I will train, I will run, I will work hard, I will do pushups and pullups and squats and burpees even when my body protests, becasue someday I will race another obstacle course and I want do even better.

Mid-Atlantic Super Spartan 2012: Done!

I completed my first obstacle course/ mud race on Saturday: the 10+ mile, 74-obstacle Super Spartan in Leesburg, VA. My time was two hours, 11 minutes, giving me the 13th place for women in my heat and 3rd in my age group.

 I did it!

It's hard to believe that only a few months ago I could barely run 1/3 mile without stopping to walk. I could only do one pushup, only one pullup at a time, and couldn't get off the ground when trying to climb a vertical rope with knots.

And on Saturday, I ran the race and completed nearly all the obstacles without a problem (the last two got me -- 30 burpees times two!) If I did it, you can too -- and by you, I mean anyone who wants to -- decides to -- and works for it.

I'm a mom of five, and my youngest was only six months old when I decided to run the Spartan obstacle course. I hadn't worked out consistently in years, and I was more than 20 pounds overweight. 

Once inspired, I started training in my yard, on the roads and in the woods. I did not join a gym or buy any fancy program or workout videos. I just used my own body weight and a few weights and homemade obstacles to get my body back in shape.

Apparently, it worked. I finished. And next year, I want to be on the podium for placing in the top three. This is my journey ... join me!