My interest in BFX originated in March of 2015, my plan was to complete BFX in what ended up being BattleFrog’s last Sunday event. However, I ran into a small problem, I was running Elite on Saturday and I encountered which may still be the most difficult course I have ever encountered. It coined the term the Brenna Bars, had Elites having breakdowns on the course, and Hobie Call said the course was harder than the Killington Beast; establishing BeardTM as a premier Race Director. In fact, there were podium finishers who took 7 hours to complete a 10-mile course. I awoke on day two and couldn’t close my hands to pull up my sock and knew I had to call it in.

Green Beret, I don’t know about you but when I hear that, I think All-American-Badass; brave individuals who sign a blank check to keep us free. All they want is to push their bodies to the limit, even the reigning Spartan World Champion is a Green Beret. So needless to …

"Are you ready?" is the question they ask you at Conquer the Gauntlet. CTG announced their pro team earlier this year and I was chomping at the bit to try one of their courses; I was like a bull looking for a red flag. CTG's Pro Team includes the likes of Matt Willis (whom you’ll be seeing soon on a certain Greek named show you may heard of), everyone’s favorite Death Racing Badger, Christina “HB” Armstrong, Nikki Call and Nathan “Napalm” Palmer to just name a few. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that action?

Somewhere around Independence Day, I saw these Patriotic, and absolutely Sexy, new shoes starting to raise their head like a gopher in your yard. The Shoe was the Acceleritas OCR in Red, White and Blue glory. Honestly, I knew I had to get my hands on a pair. They would look just fabulous with my THEE Lone Star Spartan Jersey.

When I first found OCR, the two major shoe brands were Reebok and Inov-8. Some people had Speedcross 3s, but for the most part, our top tier racers were wearing one of those two. Out of nowhere, at the beginning of the 2015 season, I started hearing about a new shoe, from a new manufacturer, Icebug. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them in any stores, or find more info about them, but those that owned them wouldn’t stop talking about them.

You may have noticed I’ve been talking about a lot of races this spring that you may not have done yet or have even heard of. There is nothing wrong with having a favorite as an athlete; I love taking a look at different takes on our sport. It helps me to become more complete. It also helps me not become complacent by never seeing anything fundamentally different. One such race is how I started off my 2016 season. Terrain Mud Runs began as an expansion out of the South-West this year and will be hitting Texas, Florida, and New Jersey along with other areas throughout the season. So when I saw Dallas was on the list, I made plans to get there and check it out.

Well, if you are reading this you are probably a few days or a few weeks from your first or next Ultra Beast. Most likely, you are past the “What the Hell did I sign up for?” phase and moved into the “How do I ensure my survival?” phase. This …

When time permits, I usually try to volunteer at the races I go to, it gives you a little more appreciation for the event itself.  Give back and you earn free races. Well, for Houston’s first Sprint I had the chance to get in on the build. It was a …

Recently, I had the pleasure of chatting with David Mainprize of Conquer the Gauntlet about his take on OCR. Conquer the Gauntlet recently announced a Pro Team with lots of familiar faces, including Christina Armstrong “Honey Badger/HB” of Death Race and TPK Endurance notoriety, Matt “The Mudder” Willis of the NBC Spartan Show, and Brenna “The Red Beast” Calvert of Broken Skull Challenge. I have the privilege of knowing these three, so when they attached their names to this series it made me take notice as a race I should be looking at, and I will at their Dallas Event on May 14th. This is an event that, by the way, is going to have some huge names not attached to the series participating. #EFFNorm hint hint among others.

#OCRUnited, #RaceLocal, #AnyRaceButSpartan you see people posting these types of statements all day long, then promptly followed up with a post the next day with their 6x Trifecta, 10X Legionnaire Headband Plan, etc. That plan never seems to include variety like signing up for quality varieties like Conquer the Gauntlet, Terrain, BattleFrog, BoneFrog or great local OCRs that for most of us are what first brought us into this amazing sport and family.