Dragon OCR is a local event here in Raleigh. The race director is pretty new to the game, but has a decent event. He's still building out his portfolio of obstacles to include in the race. This particular event was Halloween themed, so a lot of people were running in costume. It also was not timed, although the next occurrence will be timed, according to the RD. The venue where the event is held does not allow for mud/water obstacles, so the next occurrence may move to a different location.
The event went pretty well. Most of the obstacles were pretty easy. There were two obstacles, though, that were very challenging. The first was a horizontal "salmon ladder" that was much harder than I thought it would be. The second was similar to American Ninja Warrior's "Rolling Thunder" obstacle, but much shorter and easier. "Easier" being a relative term because it was quite challenging to get through.
The course could have been marked better, so hopefully the RD fixes that for next time. It was only billed as a 5k, and my gps watch logged about 2 miles. So either I took an accidental shortcut, or he overestimated the distance. Either way, it was over pretty quickly. (As contrasted with Tough Mudder, that has a 10+ mile course.)
Tougher Mudder Carolinas was just a week ago. Late fall in NC is hit-or-miss on the weather. On that day, it was sunny but quite chilly. (~48 degrees at the start). And you're pretty much guaranteed to get wet on the course. Like many TMs that I've done, it started out with about a mile of running - which is good to spread everyone out before you hit any obstacles. I may be running a little slower now than I was earlier in the year, but I think there were also faster people here. TM started giving out prize money for the first wave (that I was running) and the fastest guy (and gal) would take home $2500 each.
So I was getting passed A LOT in that first mile. But I was there to run my own race. I settled into a rhythm and eventually got to the first obstacle - Kiss of Mud, where you crawl under barbwire through mud. In this case, it was also about 1-foot-deep water. So now we're all soaked head-to-toe.
In Virginia, the "tougher" wave had to to Kiss of Mud twice, and Mud Mile twice. Not so in NC. Other obstacles (Everest, Pyramid Scheme) were modified for the "tougher" wave and were similar to what they were in Virginia.
I made my way through the course without too much trouble. Arctic Enema was *super cold*. I mean, ridiculously cold. Everest was more difficult than it was in Virginia. For the tougher wave, there is a rope to help to climb up. But it must have been positioned differently in NC. In Virginia, it was super easy. In NC, it was hard enough that I had to get help from someone at the top.
Going in to the last couple miles, I was trying to maintain my placement within the runners around me. Still, I'd get passed every now and then. But I was able to pass a few people at Funky Monkey.
All of the obstacles in the "tougher" wave must be completed or else you get a DNF. Two obstacles, though, Funky Monkey and Kong can be skipped if you fail to complete them. But, you have to run a "penalty loop" if you can't complete the obstacle.
So I was able to complete Funky Monkey without much trouble. Several people fell while I was on it, and I imagine there were other people that I didn't see running their penalty laps while I was on the obstacle as well. I was able to complete Kong (the final obstacle) without incident as well - but they apparently weren't enforcing the penalty laps by then anyway.
I finished with a time of 2:25:24 - much slower than my Virginia time of 2:01:42. Now, every course is different so it's hard to make direct comparisons. My placement in Virginia was 42nd overall, and 5th in my division (Men 45-49). Now in NC I was 75th overall, and 8th in my division. So not bad, but definitely not as good of a performance as I had back in June.
I'm already signed up for Toughest Mudder Midwest for 2018. I'll probably run Tougher Mudder Carolinas again next year too. But most of my focus will be on trail running over obstacle racing. I do have one more obstacle race this year - the Green Beret Challenge. That's two weeks away, and looks a little different than the Tough Mudder races I've been doing.
After that, it's all trail running events on the calendar to start getting ready for. So time to start ramping up the distance on the trail!
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