Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Calm before the storm/s...Obstacle Course Race World Championships

In less than 4 days I will embark on the first of two obstacle course race World Championships (Warrior Dash World Championship, and OCR World Championship).   Although I am both excited and nervous, I don't feel as though I have anything to lose.  I certainly don't consider myself one of the favorites (think Hobie Call or Cody Moat), nor do I consider myself an elite runner.

It has become apparent that if you want to be at the top of this sport you must be able to run sub 5 min pace miles.  Insane as that sounds, several of the top OCR athletes are doing so.  Many come from a background of running track in college or from a trail running background.  Many of them have run sub 2:30 marathons as well.  Crazy!

I can only keep my head up knowing that I won't be "running with the bulls", but rather hopefully staying close and making up time on the more strength based obstacles.

As Hunter McIntyre says, "biceps win races".  Although that may sound ridiculous, the guy can also hang with the best runners, hence why he is one of the best in the game.  If you can possess exceptional speed and still be able to carry your weight (literally) you will have a very good chance of excelling in this sport.

I've always been one to want to compete against the best in whichever sport I am competing in. These two upcoming events will give me a good idea of where I stand in this sport.  Considering I have only competed in 8 races, I would still look at myself as a rookie.  I've heard some of the top guys have already done over 20-30 races.

I'm hoping for strong finishes in both races (top 20) and to be able to work on improving my running efficiency as well as building a few obstacles to regularly practice on for next season.

My strength has always been my endurance, so the longer the race is the better I usually do.  The Warrior Dash W.C is only 3 miles with 12 obstacles, so needless to say it will be over in less than 30 minutes.  The OCR W.C is 8.8 miles and will include over 25 obstacles so that will play more to my strength.  Anything is possible and you always have to be prepared for the unexpected.  That's the beauty of sport and why we actually play the "game".  Nothing is a sure thing.

Good luck to all those athletes who will be competing this weekend and next weekend.  Hope to meet some of you at each event.

Stay tuned for race reports and photos

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