Why I Run Obstacle Races

This is the first in a multi-part series about Obstacle Course Racing.

Oh you were expecting the 2017 look back I promised? Yea, me too, but that hasn't been what I felt like writing so here's this instead!

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know I've been doing a lot of obstacle races lately. It's almost like that's my whole life right now.

WELL IT IS.

But why? Why has this been the sole focus on my 2018 and many prior years leading up to this?

Well, Obstacle Racing has always been the whole point. Finishing the Trifecta is my main Resolution this year. It also was in 2015 but I wasn't able to get it done. Frankly, I didn't have the right tools or focus to even try, but it's something I've been thinking about and building towards for a long time. Everything I've done fitness-wise has been for that goal.

I don't even think those are real running shoes

It all started after I joined the climbing gym. While the gym had some competitions, they were more on a fun level and involved self reporting that was easy to fake. I loved them but I wanted something more. I've always been an ok climber so I thought about how I could apply that to something else. Around the same time, obstacle racing started blowing up. I knew what I had to do.

I did my first obstacle race 5 years ago. Like almost exactly 5 years to the day. The race was for women only and obstacle wise was really easy... but I struggled to run the 5k distance. My friends were great sports and kept running back to check on me but it was embarrassing to get out of breath so easily. I realized that if I wanted to do more of these, I had to get better at running.

I hate running.

Photo Ops: an excuse to take a break from running

It might seem weird for someone who does so many races, including 4 half marathons, but I can't stand running. I've only ever signed up for running races to make sure I trained my running... in order to do obstacle races. I started with 5ks and when those got easy I moved to 10ks. Those are still a challenge for me but I moved onto half marathons anyways. Really though, 10k is my running distance sweet spot - it's long enough to be challenging for me but not so long that I'm miserable at the end like the half marathons. I have room to improve and it feels doable.

Wait, but you did 4 Half Marathons?

Right? I never wanted to do a half marathon. I didn't think it would build character. I didn't want to do the training groups my friends signed up for. I didn't want to run 13.1 miles... but the longest Trifecta race is 12-14 miles. I needed to be able to do that if I wanted to get the Trifecta. So I signed up for a Half Marathon and I trained and I did it three more times. Even though they took me forever and the training was my whole life, I did them and I get that knowledge that it's something I'm capable of doing.

Not here for the running

Ok so why now?

The Trifecta has been a bucket list item for me for so long. It was something I kept putting off. The cost of the races and the time I would need to put into training felt like too much. It felt like something I could always do later while also knowing that my life would only keep getting busier in years to come.

The past year has been full of changes for me. 2017 was really rough personally. I hit some of my lowest points emotionally. Exercise was the way I got myself out. Challenging myself to work out more and more helped get me out of the depression I was facing. Seeing myself complete local obstacle races with faster and faster times showed me that I might really have something here. Joining a local gym that had the right training and a motivating community was the final push to put me in the right place to go for the thing I've always wanted to do.

I hit a wall and I climbed over it

Being Uncomfortable

So Uncomfortable

Having completed 2 of the 3 Trifecta races has given me a lot of time to think about why I do this. The 4 hours I was running those courses were full of contemplation... specifically "Why am I putting myself through this?"

The owner of our gym likes to say that Spartan races make him uncomfortable. Obviously running a 5-8 mile race on a windy and dry Southern California day with numerous obstacles in your path is uncomfortable. You're dirty, you're probably cut up and growing some bruises. You're getting hungry and definitely thirsty. At some point you might think "I'm over this."

But you're getting through it, aren't you? It's not easy but you're doing it and you're doing alright. You're passing people. You flew through that last obstacle. You messed up the spear throw but those were the fastest 30 burpees you've ever done. Your knees are bleeding. You finished a troublesome obstacle for the first time. The guy next to you just kicked you going over a wall. But now you're finished!!!

And that's the thing... you win and you lose along the course. Some things go well and some things don't, but you get through it.

...but smiling anyways

You know what else that sounds like? 

It sounds a lot like life.

Things don't always go the way you want them to. That used to drive me crazy. I've been notorious for getting upset at things easily. At some point recently, that's really melted away. 2017 was a hard year. I lost my mom. I lost two friendships I thought would be lifelong. I lost my self esteem. All those things were really hard to deal with, but I survived them. It made me realize that the little things aren't worth getting upset over.

It's the same with obstacle racing. You might scrape your leg on the first obstacle. Well that stinks but you still have several miles and dozens of obstacles to go. If you get upset about this now, you won't make it through. You need to save that energy for the big things. In one of my races, I got a horrible cramp in my leg with half a mile left to go. That's the kind of thing that can take you out of a race. Dan helped rub out my leg and I limped the rest of the way and I finished because I was not about to let my stupid leg stop me.

Obstacle racing and the training leading up to it has changed everything. Being physically uncomfortable makes it easier to be mentally uncomfortable. Also, you just feel like a bad-ass when you accomplish these things. Someone posted recently that if you're unhappy at the beginning of a journey, you won't be happy at the end. That hasn't been true at all. I was at my lowest the first half of 2017. My journey isn't over but I feel like a different person.

Ready to sign up? Great! Stay tuned for Part Two: So You've Signed Up for an Obstacle Race.