10 Reasons Why I Love Obstacle Course Races
I recently completed my 19th obstacle course race. I started doing these races 8 years ago and can’t imagine my life without this sport now. My hope is to be doing these races for many decades to come. My goal in this post is to tell you my 10 reasons why I love obstacle course races and why you should consider doing them too!
#1 – OCR Gives Purpose and Structure to my Year Round Training
I sign up for at least 3 races a year and spread them out. My races are usually in March, May, and October. I also stack the distances, and do the shortest in March, mid in May, and longest in October. This allows me to first – have anchors on a calendar. Second, it gives me goals to build my training towards. I work on shorter, faster runs January – May, then longer distance runs May – October. In the gym, I am always working hard to keep building upper body, forearm/grip, and core strength as well, so that I can handle the obstacles.
#2 – Having Races on the Calendar is Motivating!
Having races on the calendar gives me so much purpose and motivation to keep doing my lifting, running, and mobility work, several times a week for forever. It’s that little voice on an early morning saying, “ughhh, it’s cold and dark out there, but get up and get to the gym – you’ve got a race next month.” I cannot tell you how many times having an upcoming race has helped me get moving even when I didn’t feel like it!
#3 – OCR Got Me Into Trail Running
Prior to OCR, I had not done much trail running. In fact, I showed up for my first OCR wearing worn out street running shoes, and obviously came to regret that decision when I was slipping and sliding all over the rocky hills and muddy creeks. After my first couple OCRs, I realized I actually loved running in nature way more than just running the streets and sidewalks. I invested some time and money into learning more about trail running and getting the right trail shoes. Then I started exploring my state and county parks and finding myself really enjoying trail running! Running in nature is healing! It has a spiritual quality as well that really helped me find more peace and joy and purpose in my training as well as my life.
#4 – OCR Makes You Feel Like You Can Do Anything!
In the middle of a race, I sometimes feel beat up, worn out, and frustrated. Sometimes I don’t succeed at the obstacles. Or the mud is so thick it clings to your shoes and makes running really hard. Sometimes it’s freezing. Or HOT and you get cramps and feel awful. But no matter how hard or easy the course was, when you finish, you feel like you can do anything! OCR is such a good hard challenge. There is always something new or different about each course and anytime you can conquer those diverse challenges, you walk away feeling like you can tackle and achieve hard things in your everyday life in any area – work, family, personal goals, etc. This is probably the most important reason to do OCR!
#5 – OCR Gets You Out of Your Clean Comfort Zone
I like to be clean. I certainly don’t like to be filthy and covered in mud! But the OCR’s I usually do involve a fair amount of crawling through mud and prickly plants, splashing through muddy rivers, and even dunking myself completely under a wall in a muddy pool. The first few times I did OCRs, this was a huge, gross challenge for me. I’m still not a huge fan of it to be honest, but…. I embrace it more now and appreciate it as yet another way to get out of my comfort zone.
Getting down and real dirty is just another aspect of OCR that puts another layer of discomfort into your experience. Running with wet socks and shoes is not necessarily awesome, but it’s not going to kill you. If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger, or at the very least, more adaptable and resilient.
#6 – The OCR Community is Awesome
I have met so many really awesome people at OCR’s! The community is amazing. There are so many inspiring people and stories in OCR. The OCR festival that’s held at each race is so fun. Great music, food, and people just hanging out cheering each other on for doing hard things to improve their physical, mental, social, and emotional health. I have met and been inspired by people who have lost significant amounts of weight from doing OCRs. Or those that have lost limbs in wars but still find a way to finish the course. I’ve met dads trying to lower their blood pressure and women who just want to be strong and do hard things. Everybody has a reason for doing OCRs and they are all awesome. Connecting with so many amazing and inspiring people is an awesome aspect of running OCRs!
#7 – Excuses to Travel and Explore New Cities
I live in Austin, Texas, which is right in the middle of my huge state. I am really lucky because I have 3 major race venues where OCRs happen regularly within a 3 hour drive. So I usually run the Houston, Austin, and Dallas courses every year just because they’re so easy to get to. I’ve also been fortunate though to travel to a couple of other places. One year I traveled to Breckenridge, Colorado for a race and that was my first time getting to visit Colorado! I absolutely loved my long weekend there exploring the mountain trails and towns.
Another time I got to visit Asheville, North Carolina to run an OCR and again, used that as an excuse to visit for a long weekend and explore and enjoy some hikes and sightseeing in another gorgeous part of our country. My ultimate goal is to run one in Greece someday and see where the Battle of Thermopylae took place. Gates of Fire is a fantastic book you should read if you are curious about that battle!
#8 – OCR Helps You Build a Growth Mindset
Every course, I feel like I get a little better at checking my ego at the start line and knowing I am here to grow and get better. Every obstacle is either a chance to succeed or a chance to get better at it for next time. In the first few years of doing OCR, I really struggled with the hanging obstacles like the monkey bars with multiple different attachments. I just didn’t have the upper body or grip strength to do them those first couple years!
Failing an obstacle and having to do a penalty loop or burpees is humbling and motivating – lighting a resolve to get back in the gym on Monday and keep working on it! Years of trying, failing, learning from it, and working hard to get better have helped me improve my mental toughness and growth mindset for sure. Now when I succeed at an obstacle like the hanging rings, rope climb, or other tough ones that used to be so hard, it is immensely rewarding!
#9 – Courses are Always Different and Never Boring
No course is ever the same so they are never boring. Even if you run the same distance at the same venue in consecutive years, they regularly mix up the obstacles or the order of them. Also, the course will always feel different depending on the weather as well. Hot, cold, recent rainfall amounts, or mud all affect the way a course feels.
If it’s been a wet season, heavy sticky mud will be a factor that slows everybody down. If it’s been on the drier side, courses are a lot faster. When it’s really cold, that can make the obstacles like climbing a rope or traversing monkey bars really hard because your hands are freezing! So it’s often hard to gauge your true “PR” or personal records, because every course has such a different feel. This requires you to adapt and adjust your strategies and assessment of your success every race!
#10 – They’re Really Just Fun
Obstacle course races are really just a great time. There are ups and downs of course, hard and easy parts, and not every minute is sheer joy. BUT, the overall feeling of doing something hard, finishing it, and wanting to do it again and again is what makes it so fun.
Conclusion
Running obstacle course races for the last 8 years has helped me grow in so many ways! I have met so many awesome people and been inspired by so many different stories. I have become physically fitter and mentally tougher from doing them. They give me a purpose and structure, as well as motivation to keep training year round and stay consistent! Most of all, they are just really fun. If you have not done an obstacle course race, I highly recommend you get out there and do it!
Affiliate Disclosure
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I know and use personally!
