OCR

    OCR. Obstacle Course Racing. Not my main focus, or my true racing agenda, but damn, what a f'king blast! Today I ran the Ash Kicker 5K with a good friend who is an avid OCR runner. She has done some serious races and trains specifically, and hard, to finish strong. Today, I was awake at 5:20, yes, on purpose, to drive north and play. It was cold and drizzly, grey, kind of dismal, but the weather rarely matters when you are running. This OCR did not have the ridiculously brutal and fear inspiring obstacles that some events specialize in (electric shocks? No, thank you.), but it had excellent physical challenges more along the lines of the traditional, Marine Corps obstacle course that was the original inspiration for these particular events. There were steep hills, narrow trails, a rope assisted hill climb (after shagging fire hose all winter, this one felt easy-peasy), traverse wall, belly crawl, cold water, mud, cargo nets, wall climbs, and near the end, an ice filled pool to crawl through. Lemme tell ya', that one sucked, big time. And running. I felt great, my legs felt good, my wind was excellent, the cool weather was perfect for racing. I got wet, muddy, sandy, frozen, and covered in bubbles (you heard right, bubbles). It was the perfect mini adventure; close to home, fun, new, and epic. If it weren't for my fear of damaging my knee before my Race, I could definitely see myself getting deeper into the OCR world. Maybe next year.