
If you missed the Elite article about lessons learned I would head back and read it. Although the article is focused on elite, there are lessons in there that apply to everyone. For this article though, I’m going to share some things I learned about Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) on my path to 100x elite podiums. It is a journey that started nearly a decade ago, but I want to focus on the lessons learned on open waves which make up the overwhelming majority of our sport.

1. The Race Will Get You to Sign Up, the Community Will Keep You Coming Back: I didn’t keep coming back to OCR just because I was doing well, even as an elite I came back for the community, friendships and experiences. This is the reason I have 59 Tough Mudders under my belt with only about half of those being competitive events. The same thing goes with KC Timber Challenge: only half of the events I went to are competitive events. Without the community there isn’t anyone to share the highs and lows with. Remember as you usher new people into the sport, talk to first-timers at races and realize what you’ll step away from when you stop racing.

2. Explore New Races: I’ve signed up for expensive races and cheap races and what I’ve enjoyed most is the variability. A 5k road race is a 5k road race wherever you go with little variation. OCRs are different everywhere, not just with terrain but with obstacles and sometimes rule set (mandatory completion vs. penalties vs. different types of penalties). Big brands like Spartan and Tough Mudder tend to be very standardized and you’ll know what you are getting signing up for those. The smaller races tend to have less restrictions so you occasionally get some crazy hard obstacles or ones that can be unique because they only have to put a hundred or two hundred people through the course instead of more than a thousand. It’s the difference between going to a chain restaurant or a local eatery you might find on The Food Network. Brands like Hazelwood OCR, Mythic Race and Conquer The Gauntlet stand out as having some of my favorite obstacles. Races with surprise fun experiences and a family friendly atmosphere like Murder Creek Mud Run, KC Timber Challenge and Muddy Water OCR also stand out to me over the last decade. The variability of different brands in the same sport is one of the things that keeps me coming back.

3. Visit Family and Friends: I’ve spent 20 years in the military, so I have friends and family spread out across the USA and around the world. OCR has given me a reason in an otherwise very busy life to connect with some old friends. I stayed overnight at a friend from high school after racing Dirt Runner (now site of upcoming Midwest OCR) who I hadn’t seen in a decade. I got spend time with one of my soldiers from a 2008 Iraq deployment after T.H.O.R. in Wichita Falls, TX. Finally, and most importantly, I’ve been home to visit family more times than I can count racing in the northeast running brands like Newbsanity, Toughest Mudders, OCRWC and Rugged Maniac.

4. Explore New Locations: I’ve run at local events 10 minutes from my house and flown to Australia, Lebanon, Kuwait, UK, Saudi Arabia and Canada to race. What I value most from these is the opportunity to explore new parts of the world, do touristy things, eat local cuisine and simply have a unique experience. Being able to race hard against some different athletes in a new environment was a nice perk of all of those trips. However, when I tell people about my trip to Kuwait, I typically don’t say “I won” but rather end up talking about what Middle Eastern OCR athletes are like, the food, what the experience was like, and why I want to go back. The race is the impetus to book a trip to someplace new that otherwise might end up in the host of places that people say “I’d like to go there someday” but never making plans.

5. Go Elite or Stay Open: There’s nothing wrong with running open your entire time racing, but if you want something a little more competitive, try out the elite wave. You might surprise yourself with your results and if your results aren’t where you want them (read my other article 100x Podiums: Elite Lessons Learned) do something about it. I have written several books on improving racing performance that will help you out (available here). I ran my first marathon in 2003 with a time of around 4:25. Less than a decade later I ran sub 3 hours and then switched to OCR. I had initial success only because I had been training for strength and endurance sports for more than a decade prior to my first OCR.
One of my martial arts teachers, Tiga Tactic’s Patrick Vuong, says “It takes 5 years to get good at anything” (discussed further in my book On Endurance) and I’ve written articles about the 10,000 hour rule for OCRWC. I share this with you because improvement takes time, often so much time that it seems like wasted effort because you look like you are stagnating when looking at performance from week to week or even month to month. Zoom further out though and you’ll see some pretty crazy changes from year to year. If you are happy in open, stay in open, if you want something else though, stay persistent and consistent for a long time and you’ll be surprised how good you can get.
If you are wondering how I managed to find so many races in so many different places it is by following coverage from The OCR Report and using OCR Buddy, a free app you can download to your phone.

When I finally hang up my race shoes, the most important thing I’ll have done is the experiences spending time with family and friends. This includes all the memories I built with my kids and wife but also my parents. I traveled back to the northeast more times than I can count in the last decade because it is an easy button for travel (free place to stay, free airport pickup and often car available to use to get me to the race). With my mom passing away from cancer last summer and my dad (my usual pit crew for almost every Ultra-OCR), more than anything I’m thankful that OCR resulted in exponentially more trips back home, a way to stay more connected with family and a lifetime of memories. It’s something I didn’t understand the value of 10 years ago, but will forever be thankful for long after people forget me as a competitive racer in the sport.
