OCR... more than running

Normally I take the name of the event as the headline. But this time it was two events and three runs: 13K Tougher Mudder in Arnsberg 13K Tough Mudder in Arnsberg 17k Break out Run in Nijmegen But let’s start at the beginning:   4:00 in the morning: the clock rings and I had to wake up. Absolutely not my time but it was not only a day. It was the day! We had planned something special. We wanted to run a triple and complete the distance of a marathon. 7:00 Gopal and I arrived in Arnsberg, the NRW Tough Mudder area. Here we wanted to do two of three runs. Both are nearly the same. There is only one different: The Tougher Mudder is a time race. Otherwise, the Tough Mudder isn’t a race and the time is not taken. But the track and obstacles are the same. And for both  one rule counts: One helps one another! We started with the Tougher Mudder at 8 o’clock.           It took around 100 minutes, and we passed the finish line after 13 km. Me first, ...

 A day like a dream, but a very long one! OCR (for me) is the best run sport. But if you want to do special things you have to “pay” a special price. I don’t mean the price of each OCR event (maybe too) but OCR events are not as common as sand at the sea. And so we have to drive many, many kilometers. This time we had to drive around 300km (one way) to Wächtersbach. This means we had to start at  5:30 am. We were four, the weather was for the first time this year very sunny and hot. Everything seemed to become very, very good.   Once we arrived it’s almost the same at every event. It’s a simple 3 step list to have fun: check in, change clothes, go to the start line. The main obstacle is and was the “Fjord Drop”. Like I said in some other posts this is a big, a very big and high slide. We think for security reasons, they change the set-up a bit. They installed barriers between the slider lines. But did they help to prevent accidents? No, they didn’t. The res...

 It’s my personal pleasure to come back to Weeze…come back to the MudMatsers. It’was the first OCR event ever I took part. Here started my love for OCR. The wind was cold, but the Sun was shining, and so we were in a good mood to start the next OCR! Maybe I’m prejudiced but since the ToughMudder - Organization has change some important things I like to say the MudMasters became the better ToughMudder! If you like mud you will love Weeze! The track is very diversified: some parts are paved ground but the most parts are sand, field and forest ground (and water!). A new star was born? Maybe…… At least we had a new team member for this event. Until now, he was “only” a triathlete but these are best conditions for an obstacle runner: He likes water, can run and is fit. He should have enough upper body strength for climbing and hanging. And he should have enough power in his legs for running and all other things. But during the run and at the end he said it was hard! But h...

The year started some weeks ago with hot and sunny weather. But not at this weekend: It was freeze cold by around 2 degrees. All obstacles were wet, frozen and white of snow! But we aren’t really OCR-Runners if we will not go to the start because of the weather!   Gopal and I met at 7 o’clock in the morning. We took some extra pullovers and blanket because we knew we had to wait and stay outside for minimum an hour at the start line. At this event all 10.000 runners starts at the same time and, if you want to start at the front, you have to be there early enough. But we were entertained well with live music and a warm-up. This year they had planned a special for us: We all tried a world record in breath meditation. We did the biggest breath meditation course in the world and got the world record and an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.   But the mass start isn’t a good choice - for me. It has many, many disadvantages: One point is - I wrote about it above - t...