BattleFrog BFX24 Miami.....Facing the Truth About My OCR Addiction

When I helped cover the BattleFrog BFX24 for Mud Run Guide (MRG) last month in Miami I knew it would be a great new experience.  Every race seems to bring out some new perspective on Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) for me.  I certainly expected this to be no different.  What I couldn't predict though was how surprising that insight would be for me personally.

I know we've all read the stories that begin with "Hello, my name is (fill in the blank) and I'm addicted to OCR".  Almost did that myself....several times.  And for years now I have suffered under the illusion that I was slightly obsessed with  (OCR).  I mean, that's all I seemed to be talking about most of the time.  Certainly most of my free time revolved around finding...training for...planning for...traveling to...running...OCR races.  Not to mention writing and posting photos afterward!  That weekend though, I learned the real meaning of the word for me.

So let's start with the definitions.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the two terms:

Obsession

A state in which someone thinks about someone or something constantly or frequently, especially in a way that is not normal.
[editor's note: for the purpose of this story, we will overlook the fact that the writer frequently thinks about things in a way that would be considered particularly abnormal]

Addiction

A strong and harmful need to regularly have something or do something.
 [editor's note: Ibid. "Obsession"]

Interestingly, this was a race I never expected to be running in the first place.  One, because I hadn't even known there was a regular race Saturday.  If I had, it's likely I wouldn't have been covering the BFX24!  Second, because when I did find out there was a Saturday race, it was in the middle of the night....while out on the course about as far away from the pit area and my car as you could get.  And I was alright with that....disappointed, but alright.  I was enjoying the whole experience so I chalked it up as a missed opportunity...nothing to be done about it.

What happened at daybreak the next day though really put this all into a new perspective for me.  After a short nap in the back of the car...surprisingly, more to rest my back than from being tired...I was up again around 6am.  After heading to the beach to see the sunrise and watch a few racers still chugging along, I headed over towards the festival area.  And that's where it happened!!

As I approached the festival area, long before I could see it I heard the familiar blaring music....by the way, AC/DC seems to be a staple on all the Pump-You-Up play lists.  Then I could see the people.  Racers milling about, making last minute adjustments...stretching...heading over towards the start corral.  A palpable buzz in the air.  Hearing Coach Pain delivering another motivational sendoff.  Suddenly, I was no longer thinking about the BFX24 still going on all around me.  I was watching the first wave go off and then....well, then it all gets a bit fuzzy.

When you're obsessed about OCR, you do strange things.  Like getting at the venue seven hours before your start time.  Spending four hours the night before a race; planning, sorting, packing, repacking......going over every detail.  One day you realize after a meeting that you just told your boss your goals for next year were to increase your squat weight, work on your downhill running technique and improve your grip strength.  But it seems to me that when you're obsessed, you still have some control....I think....maybe....

Not so much though when you have a true addiction.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm fine at home...or at work.  I have no compulsion to check on the latest news or sign up for any race I can find within a days drive.  I don't wear racing shorts under my street clothes.  But hearing that music and Coach Pain and standing under the starting arch taking photos of the first wave.  Next thing I knew....there I was, a race packet in my hand, heading back to change into what little race gear I had with me.  And explaining to Margaret (my MRG editor, OCR friend and on-site boss for this event) that I would be ummm, off-duty, for a little bit.  Without the sense to even take off my MRG shirt!  I had to do this course.....had to.....had to.....

In my OCR career, I've only been at one event that I didn't race...the 2015 OCRWC.  But that was only after fifty-ish hours working on the build, right up until 9pm the night before.  And race day was going to be near freezing, on a course that would be wasted on my injured shoulder and knees.  Yet, even then...even then....when I showed up race day to do some photography on my own, the urge was so strong to get out there...just to see what I had in me that day.  I should have realized at that point....I should seek help....immediately!!

And just a few weeks before the OCRWC, I'd run six weekends in a row, the last four after dislocating my shoulder at a race (and believe me, I am way too old for that to make any sense at all).  I won't even talk about the shape my leg was in from Wintergreen when I did the race at Asheville the following week.  There was always some excuse though...it's the last race in the series...I've waited years to race at this venue...you're already here...you're already dirty...I can't just skip it because parts of me are falling off.  Don't be a wimp!!

 And that's the way it's been for years now.  It was inevitable though that I had to face up to it sometime.  But you know.....I feel a whole lot better now.....free-er.....that feeling of being cleansed.....of finally getting something out in the open.  Of understanding and accepting myself.

I suppose now it is time to say:

Hello, my name is John......and I'm an OCR addict....

It is with great hope that my friends, my family, MRG and the OCR community will respect this life choice and also accept me for who and what I am.  Is that asking too much??!!  So, until the music starts at the next race......

Related Story:

BattleFrog BFX24 – The Joys of Covering a 24 Hour Race

The Best of My Mud Run Guide Articles From 2015

In November of this year, not long after meeting the Mud Run Guide team at the Obstacle Course Racing World Championship (OCRWC),  I started writing articles for them.  This has been a very rewarding experience for me and I wanted to share with you some of my favorite articles from 2015.  Hopefully you will enjoy reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

Designing Your Own Obstacle Race - A humorous look at how easy some people think it is to build an obstacle course

Are We Expecting Too Much From Our Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Events?  - A reminder of the uncontrolled conditions that OCR promoters work under to bring us these races

Obstacle Course Racing in 2016 and Beyond – Olympic Sport, Accreditation, Safety - Some observations on the state of the OCR industry and what we might be seeing in 2016

A Not-so-Quiet Revolution in Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Called #racelocal - A glimpse into the trend of racing local and what some groups are doing to encourage this

The Rig – Ultimate Challenge or Destroyer of Souls - A look at The Rig and how they are used by various OCR promoters

BattleFrog Championship 2015 Orlando – A Great Race…That No One Else Got to See - The continuing challenge of bringing the excitement of the actual elite race to the fans

BattleFrog Championship 2015 – A Flat Course Can Be Tough – Race Review - A review of the BattleFrog Championship race.  A tougher course than the flat terrain would have you expect

Mud Run Guide Awards….Must….Have….A….Name! - With the awarding of the 2015 Mud Run Guide awards, it seemed appropriate to finally come up with a name for this prestigious award 

OCR and Fitness on Facebook - Obstacle Course Racing/Fitness:

www.facebook.com/ocrandfitness

Top 10 Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Stories of 2015

This past year was my most active in obstacle course racing (OCR).  In addition to running a number of races in the local Miami area, I was on the road twice for a series of races on the east coast and Atlanta areas with a final short trip to Orlando for the BattleFrog Championship.  Somewhere in there I found time to work as part of the build crew at the Obstacle Course Racing World Championship (OCRWC) in Ohio as well.

This is a list of my favorite articles from my blog for 2015....hope you enjoy them as much as I did sharing them with you!

BattleFrog on TV.....Here We Go Again! - BattleFrog's first attempt at bringing their OCR race brand to television with the first College Championship OCR sprint on ESPN.

OCR...Growing Pains, Competition, Money and Egos - Some early year observations on the how far the industry has come since it's relatively recent begininngs

Lessons Still Not Learned....Why People Don't Really Care What You Think! - The potentially devastating affects of sharing personal opinions on your business pages

My First Tough Mudder - Western, NY 2015 - Race/Challenge Review - Running my first Tough Mudder

Sometimes Being a Smartass Can Lead to an Extraordinary OCR Experience - BattleFrog at Pittsburgh 2015 - An extraordinary experience at this BattleFrog race with some of the people that make OCR so special

You May Be In the Wrong Business if You Think of Your Customers As F**ktards! - Another example of people who don't quite get the destructive power of the Internet on their businesses

Spartan Race Build at Asheville 2015 - I Finally Get to Build Some S**t - The first opportunity this year to get out and build some obstacles!

Spartan Race and OCR Back on TV - Here We Go Again....Again... - Spartan Race announces a casting call for another attempt at getting OCR on television with NBC Sports

Back To The Basics - Building a Savage Race - Atlanta 2015 - My first experience with Savage Race, in Atlanta

My Journey to the Center of the (OCR) World - OCR World Championships 2015 - An international spectacle at the World Championship!

My Journey to the Center of the (OCR) World - OCR World Championships 2015

I've never been to an Olympics, but this had all the feel I would expect of an Olympic event.  From the very first minute I showed up at Kings Domain in Oregonia, OH (permanent site for Mud, Guts and Glory) for the OCR World Championships (OCRWC) build, I knew something was different from any other obstacle course venue I had been on.  That difference would become more and more pronounced as the week went on, culminating in an incredible event and a personal journey of international discovery.

Within minutes of arriving on site Monday, after driving 7 hours up from NC, I was already at work.  Just lending a hand moving around a few partially built obstacles for finishing and painting.  There still seemed quite a lot to do but I figured, hey...we have four more days and that should be plenty of time for a build crew to finish...right?  Shortly after this I got some good news, there would be room to put me up on site.  This fact would make a huge difference for the rest of the week as we'd be putting in very long days!!  I was also a bit surprised when the race founder, Adrian Bijanada, and Mud Run Guide founder Brett Stewart invited me to tag along with many of the staff for dinner that night.  We'd never met before and this was just another indication that "I wasn't in Kansas" anymore.

Tuesday morning was my introduction to the realities of the OCRWC build.  I would say that we had a skeleton build crew but that would be an insult to skeletons everywhere.  What we lacked in the core crew though, we more than made up for in volunteers.  Not the volunteers you normally expect to see on builds either (which I do regularly myself).  These were some of the racers who had arrived early in the week...many of which were international racers.  And by no means new to OCR builds.  They were as comfortable with tools and on the machines as they were on the course.  In some cases I was actually working next to international race directors and even founders of international races.

And I was learning more every day about who was who at the OCRWC.  A bit of a humbling experience when you follow the sport as closely I do and find out how much there is still to know.  A feeling that started at my very first race this summer in Barre.  This sport is exploding...the big-bang of OCR...expanding so fast that there are few people that really know what's going on in every aspect.  But that's a whole 'nother topic.

One thing I was learning very quickly is that there was a very passionate and very intense group of international athletes here.  I was also getting an impromptu introduction to the "politics" of a world championship.  This year was the second OCRWC and many of the international racers feel that the 2016 race should be held outside the US...I assume somewhere in Europe would be the preference.  Something the organizers I'm sure have been keenly aware of.  A reasonable opinion too it seems, as some of these teams were traveling here with 20-30 racers or more...quite impressive for such a young sport.  Some countries can't even manage that many athletes at the Olympics!!

So the build continued...inching forward every hour towards completion.  Each hour,  expanding my knowledge of this new world of OCR.  Learning not only about the design and building techniques the European course builders were using, but also about how they handled some of the race day operations.  Some very interesting aspects that we could learn from as an industry here about race coverage and fan promotion (this also made me wonder if they had peaked at my posts from a couple of years back on these very same suggestions!)

I also had the unique opportunity to help design asome adjustments for a few of these iconic obstacles, as the construction methods here were so much different.  Looking back, I'm glad I didn't know who some of these people were until later.  I mean, how do you suggest changes to the da Vinci's of OCR?!  In time, the course was coming together through an intricate dance of build crew, fabricators, racers, volunteers and staff...orchestrated somehow by Garfield Griffiths, race director extraordinaire.  An effort I was fortunate to witness up close from the fact that we were 'cabin-mates' for that week.

By Friday, things were getting interesting!  Since I hadn't really looked at the schedule, I was a bit surprised to see SO MANY racers and spectators in the festival/lower course that morning.  I was amazed so many racers had come in so early to check out the course.  What I didn't realize is that the OCR Warrior "Best of the Best" series was happening that afternoon!  Say what??!!  And imagine trying to keep them off the obstacles...really!!??!

The OCR Warrior event lead to one of the more amusing moments of the week for me though.  The event director came over to ask if I could get the obstacle I was working on...Tip of the Spear...ready for the event.  At least the front portion.  "Sure, when do you need it?" I said.  He said, straight faced, "In a few minutes."  ......momentary silence......  As I got out my "I'll do my best", I suppose my face had answered more quickly.  They rerouted the initial heats.  Nothing like the (pleasant) distraction of live OCR races going on right next to you, as you try desperately to finish obstacles on the eve of the Championship.

So for me, the build week finally ended Friday night around 9:30 with the completion of the winner's podium and a "painting by head light" of same...after testing it of course!  Another lesson learned here too!  Since I wanted the best finish to be on the front I asked which way the podium faced...you know, which side the second and third place stood, since they were different heights?  Trust but verify!  Needless to say, I forget who told me the answer but the next day I was mortified when they placed the podium with the 'back' facing forward!!  Certain that the imperfections would be the scandal of the event.  Fortunately, nobody but me noticed...

Another first for me at this event was that I wasn't racing!  Although I had qualified, I never registered.  And, while at the beginning of the week I'd hoped I might be allowed to race, the anticipated freezing temperatures and nagging injuries said otherwise.  After seeing much of the course all week, I realized that in my condition, there just wasn't anyway to make a legitimate attempt.  It was a difficult thing to admit that...this course was spectacular and a sort of pilgrimage venue to me.  So many iconic Mud, Guts and Glory obstacles that I never expected to see in real life.  And so it goes...

Race day I did the next  best thing though...after a godsend, Pete Durment of DryWear, allowed me to crash at his room...I went to the race as a spectator.  Armed with warm clothes and my trusty camera pack.  The OCR World Championship did not disappoint!  I witnessed an incredible Olympics worthy event...truly.  Inspiring athletes everywhere!  Team coaches running along the course for the final distance shouting encouragement.  Racers doing the same for each other.  Brett Stewart yelling advice to racers on Skull Valley.  Everyone in an OCR frenzy cheering on any racer within range.  Awesome is a vastly overused word these days.  Awesome though, is the only word that can do justice to this day in OCR...this World Championship day.

All that day I simply soaked in the atmosphere, recorded the memories and witnessed the latest stage in the ongoing development of this infant sport we have come to love...OCR.  And now, after this week, I have also come to know so many people from around the world.  Understand better what this sport means to them as well.  Not to mention becoming Facebook friends with people whose posts I can't understand...even with the translations.  But knowing that the bond of OCR transcends our differences in language.  And when I consider what I thought I knew about OCR before, it reminds me of a line from Men in Black and I think...Imagine what I'll know tomorrow.  Can't wait!!!

Related links:

OCR World Championships website

#OCRUNITED Series Brings Together the Sport of Obstacle Racing

OCR World Championships 2015 - Race Review - ORM/Chris Cow

Kings Domain

OCR World Championships - Thank You's Due...in Abundance

OCR World Championships - Thank You's Due...in Abundance

This past week at the OCR World Championship build and race could not have been more unexpected...in just being there...or more eye opening in terms of it's scope and impact across the world of OCR.  More on this later (much more!), but I just felt I wanted to say a very public and very big thank you to a number of people.  Not just for the opportunity to be there in Ohio, but for their generosity in making the week so much better!!

THANKS TO:

Garfield Griffiths for the opportunity to come and work on the OCRWC build.  Brutal hours and conditions...but a great experience!

Brett Stewart and Adrian Bijanada for their generosity all week in arranging some on site rooming and the late night, build site pizzas...a real life saver those nights!

Kings Domain for all their cooperation in making my tasks go as smooth as possible.

All the OCRWC and Mud Run Guide staff for the countless things that go on in support of every build (like charged radios...something I never seemed to remember to do!!) that again, made build life better.

Pete Durment of DryWear Apparel for stepping up and letting me crash at the La Quinta when my own room arrangements fell through.  Huge because otherwise I would not have been able to see the race Saturday...and that would have been tragic.

Bob of Battlegrounds Mud Run for helping out on some of my build work and who apparently doesn't actually know what "I really have to get going now" means.  If I had a dollar for every time he said that, then continued working with me I'd have...well, I'd have a lot more dollars than I started with!

I know that there are many others I would like to thank...Ian and Hubie come to mind immediately.  And Christine from Kings Domain.  So if you did anything to help me this past week...please know that I appreciate it all!!  And......

THANK YOU!!