I was never a fan of running until a friend introduced me to the wonderful world of mud runs and obstacle courses. Climbing walls, monkey bars, and fire jumps? Yes please! I'll run if it means I get to do all that other awesome stuff!
So far I have participated in 3 races:
Survivor Mud Run
Warrior Dash
Spartan Sprint
They were all about 5k and included 12-15 obstacles. The Warrior Dash and Survivor Mud Run took me just over 35 minutes each. There were lots of mud pits, walls to climb over, nets to get tangled in, and culverts to scramble through. The Spartan Sprint was the hardest and most extreme by a long shot and took me 1:17 to complete the 4 mile course. It had many obstacles I had not seen before, including sand bag carries, tractor pulls, and tire flips, and if you failed at any obstacle (there were no second chances!) you had to do 30 burpees.
While some people might find this sort of hobby crazy, I love these races. All of the people on the course are wonderfully positive, friendly, and helpful. Complete strangers have helped boost me over walls and shared encouraging words with me as we wallowed together in waist-deep muck. Most people are at these races to have fun and challenge themselves to try something new, not to be super-competitive. All of the races I attended had well over 1,000 participants. Usually the serious competitors run in the first wave, or heat, and then the rest of us run in later heats spaced 30 minutes apart. You are rewarded at the finish line with a medal, a t-shirt, and a free beer. There's usually loud rock music and quite a few people in costume (I've seen gladiators, men in tutus, and women in wedding dresses).
I'm curious how many Cathletes would also be interested in this sort of thing. I'm in Washington state and would love to see some fellow Cathletes at one of these events. I think there's a Warrior Dash coming up next month near Seattle, and there's a Super Spartan (like the Spartan Sprint, but 8 miles and 20+ obstacles) in British Columbia this fall that I may attempt. Is anyone interested in joining me?
Even if you're not near me, I'd love to hear about some of the crazy races you have done! We could share training ideas as well. I'm doing an STS 3.5 month rotation, along with some running. I really need to start running more extreme hills and stairs, though. I also need a pull up bar to help improve my wall-scaling abilities. What are your thoughts?
So far I have participated in 3 races:
Survivor Mud Run
Warrior Dash
Spartan Sprint
They were all about 5k and included 12-15 obstacles. The Warrior Dash and Survivor Mud Run took me just over 35 minutes each. There were lots of mud pits, walls to climb over, nets to get tangled in, and culverts to scramble through. The Spartan Sprint was the hardest and most extreme by a long shot and took me 1:17 to complete the 4 mile course. It had many obstacles I had not seen before, including sand bag carries, tractor pulls, and tire flips, and if you failed at any obstacle (there were no second chances!) you had to do 30 burpees.
While some people might find this sort of hobby crazy, I love these races. All of the people on the course are wonderfully positive, friendly, and helpful. Complete strangers have helped boost me over walls and shared encouraging words with me as we wallowed together in waist-deep muck. Most people are at these races to have fun and challenge themselves to try something new, not to be super-competitive. All of the races I attended had well over 1,000 participants. Usually the serious competitors run in the first wave, or heat, and then the rest of us run in later heats spaced 30 minutes apart. You are rewarded at the finish line with a medal, a t-shirt, and a free beer. There's usually loud rock music and quite a few people in costume (I've seen gladiators, men in tutus, and women in wedding dresses).
I'm curious how many Cathletes would also be interested in this sort of thing. I'm in Washington state and would love to see some fellow Cathletes at one of these events. I think there's a Warrior Dash coming up next month near Seattle, and there's a Super Spartan (like the Spartan Sprint, but 8 miles and 20+ obstacles) in British Columbia this fall that I may attempt. Is anyone interested in joining me?
Even if you're not near me, I'd love to hear about some of the crazy races you have done! We could share training ideas as well. I'm doing an STS 3.5 month rotation, along with some running. I really need to start running more extreme hills and stairs, though. I also need a pull up bar to help improve my wall-scaling abilities. What are your thoughts?
Last edited:
I almost went to one here that was in a cave but went tree climbing instead. I wish I had chosen the cave because the tree climbing did not turn out to be what I thought; I thought it was climbing tree branches like when I was a kid but it is this: 
