Hello everyone,
I am sorry it has been a long time for me to be posting. A lot of things have kept me away recently and I have been longing to come back. I am able to do so here and there but as a mother who works 2 jobs now, it may not be as much as I would like it to be. Anyways, I was recently approached by someone wanting me to do a blog post for you guys to talk about why I race, what have I liked/disliked about some of the races I have gone too and what would be my fairytale race? Well hold on to your seats guys because this is about to get interesting.
Well the first question wanted me to answer why I race. To me that is easy. I am a mother who works 2 jobs and maybe gets 20-25 hours of sleep on any given business week. When I am not working or sleeping, I am playing games with my kids. We love playing soccer and being active. At times though, I need a little bit of ME time. A time that I can be one with myself and screw my head back on straight. I get that by doing races. Especially OCR races. For those of you who don’t know what OCR stands for, it is Obstacle Course Race. Meaning you are not just stuck in one same pattern doing the same step after step for a long distance. You actually run for a designated period then are faced with an obstacle. You then have to figure out how you are going to go over, under, around, or through this said obstacle. If you really look at it, it is kind of like life. It always seems to throw things at us when we least expect it. Leaving us to figure out how to overcome the obstacle at hand. With my life being as scrambled up as it has been lately, it is no wonder why I get the satisfaction of being able to overcome obstacles at a race. It makes me feel like I can get through whatever life throws at me. Its like, scared of heights? Here, go over this 20 foot wall. Claustrophobic? No problem.. go through this tiny tube and crawl 20 yards to the other side. As in life, you may not like the obstacle or you may fail it a few times but in the end it makes you much stronger than you where before you came across it.
As you guys can read, I have done many races before. I have done all kinds of races like mud runs, color runs, road races and more. I have had mostly good experiences with the races I have done with exceptions to a few incidences. My biggest fear in a race is to be left alone on a course. That is why I normally run with the Lone Star Spartans. More times than not, when participating in races with other people, I end up being left behind or made to feel like I am just holding them back. With LSS, no man is left behind. No matter what happens. I am a country girl and big cities scare the living crap out of me. Especially if I don’t know the city too well. SO going to a race where they shut down parts of the course that runners still have not seemed to make it to, the slower runners like me, make me never want to do that race again. I have had that happen and I was hurt. More than just physically. I mean I know it was my fault for letting myself be talked into a longer distance than I have ever done, and not trained for I might add. But, there were too many times that I found myself in an area where I was not in a good position to be in.. ON COURSE!! To add to my holy-crapness.... the police escorts that were supposed to be encouraging, most were just the opposite. They tried to get me to quit instead of encourage me to keep going. The only one who did was a police officer who runs marathons who was the final one to pull up next to me. He kept playing encouraging music from his patrol car and talked me the whole way. I was crying before he came but was able to push myself through it and not give up. There have even been races that are extremely hard that have sort of Dropped The Ball so to say, on water stations in a much needed area. I mean if you know an area is in a tough area to be in, and you know there is supposed to be a water station at one point that everyone is looking forward to coming across. Just to find when they get there, no water station is to be found. Causing a good bit of people to get dehydrated and have to have medics come remove them off course. To me that is a HUGE slap in the face and a disappointment to myself if you try your hardest to complete a race only to have to get a medic to come take you off course. Especially with the rates of some of these races nowadays. I have seen some races go higher than $200 per entry. Let me tell you this, I have hurt myself on course but I drug my foot with cracked bones and torn ligaments for the remaining 3 miles to cross that finish line. I was not about to let all that money go to waste.
There are some perks to some of the races I have attended. For example, some offer a free are entry if you volunteer. For someone like me who has to rob Peter to pay Paul, that is a HUGE bonus. Some even offer you incentives for getting others to sign up. Like a free race if you get 20 people or more to sign up. I have even seen some give you special VIP treatment if you pay a little extra for there VIP passes. The fun part about most of the races I have done is... You get to dress up without people thinking you are a nut case. Even though I have thought of me and a friend dressing up like one of us is a doctor while the other is wearing an untied straight jacket. Having the Dr. chase the “Patient.” Now tell me, wouldn’t that be awesome to see? Ok back on topic. LOL. Don’t take my idea for a race costume idea now lol. I’m kidding. If you do however, comment to this post or hit me up on social media with pics cause I soon want to see. Anyways, I have also quite enjoyed some of the prizes at the end of some of the races and/or the activities they have while in the race. One of the most care-free all out fun races for me happen to be either a Zombie race at night or any that involve foam, black lights, lots of glow sticks... Yep, you guest correctly. I like some of the night races. As long as there is plenty of people and stations that are filled with fun. As you can tell, I am not a long distance road-racer. TBH, I really don’t prefer road races anyways unless there is fun involved. Partly because I get bored WAY to easily and need something to keep me interested. I could never see myself doing a marathon or a Long distance relay like a Capitol To Coast race. I would freak out after mile 3 from being bored. Or worse, if it’s at night and I am someplace I have never been.... Yep! Not for me.
The final question the was asked of me is, What would be my dream race if I could create one? This one is actually quite difficult to answer because there is so much that I would put into one. Which in turn would make the race way to long for most people to handle or too crammed together to make it a true race. I do know I would love to incorporate obstacles, black lights, glow in the dark apparel for a night race or: obstacles, mud, some water to get you all wet, mud, fun water stations, mud, some team/ group events, tires to flip, pink color somewhere along the way. Oh did I forget to mention MUD! Yes I love muddy races. I am not to gun-hoe about electricity shocking you or terrain that will kill you if you accidentally take a 1/4 of a step off the 1 foot wide path. Heights are okay to an extent. I would make it where it is challenging yet it wouldn’t hinder those who are just starting out. I HATE HATE HATE being in a race and having people bash and trash talk others who are just starting out. The way I see it, there path has just begun. So lots of encouragement along the way would be nice. I would also like a day race to be not just on hard surface but to be on trails as well. Seeing as I prefer to be on trails than road surfaces anyway . So all in all, my day time races would be a mixture of a mud run, OCR, and a color run all rolled into one! Maybe even a couple adult bounce houses thrown into the mix would be awesome! My night race would be an OCR, Foam, blacklight, maybe a Zombie character here and there kind of race.
I have wrote and rewritten this blog post quite a few times and each time I end up erasing it or Blogger does it for me. Just about my luck TBH. I think I have finally gotten this post to a point where I can finally take a breath and feel comfortable with posting. If you have any questions or suggestions about this post or any post, drop me a line below and I will respond. Or hit me up on social media ( my info is in the About me section) and we can chat. If you have any ideas on future topics you would like me to discuss, feel free to shoot me a line in either location and we will talk it through. I am always open to new ideas. Especially if it involves trying something I have never tried before or a blogger review. For now, Stay active, Have fun, and most of all, Sweat Pink!
Thinking of putting together your own race? Did my post spark an idea in your head for an awesomely cool race? Well the staff at eventbrite.com are there to help. just follow this LINK to there event management page to help get you started.
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