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Playing in the Mud

The OCR Buddy Blog

Wichita Gladiator Dash: Race Review

There’s been a race within a couple hours of my house that I’ve had a conflict with since 2016.  Wichita Gladiator Dash is Wichita’s longest running Obstacle Course Race (OCR).  They’ve been putting on events since 2012 and it finally fit into my schedule so I went down there to check it out.  Check In/Location: 

Rugged Maniac OKC Race Review

The biggest party race in the country is still going nationwide.  Rugged Maniac has been around since the beginning of Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) holding events all across the US.  I headed south to Oklahoma City to check on the brand and see if they are still delivering the same high quality party atmosphere and

The Realities Behind Cool Events LLC and Terrain Race Cancellations

Update: We have since met with The Orginal Fit Factory the parent company of Cool Events. You can read the updates here: Update One: Cool Events Parent Company Addresses Issues. Update Two: https://ocrbuddy.com/update-cool-events-on-the-road-to-change/ Editors Note: Due to the size of the screenshots that correspond to the research in the article, all screenshots are at the

Remembering Charity Fick: A Beacon of Inspiration and Support in the OCR Community

Charity Fick, a beloved member of the OCR community in the Pacific NW and Canada, recently passed away at the age of 42. Known for her infectious smile, supportive nature, and desire to see everyone shine, Charity inspired and motivated all who met her. I talked to several of her friends in the community. The

Race Review: Tough Mudder Infinity Philly

Tough Mudder kicked off their endurance event series in the US last weekend with Infinity in Philadelphia.  This was my 2nd Infinity event and more than 50th Tough Mudder event.  Here’s a rundown of how it went and where Tough Mudder Headquarters (TMHQ) fell short of their normal high standard: Parking:  Parking was offsite, which

Race Review: T.H.O.R.

I took a trip down to Wichita Falls, Texas to check out Texoma’s Hellish Obstacle Run (T.H.O.R.) this past weekend.  Here’s how it went and if you should make the trip to northern Texas to run their course.  Parking & Check In: Check-in was smooth and easy with parking available right next to the festival. 

ChatGPT on “How to Train for OCR” Part 2

In Part 1 we asked ChatGPT about advice for training for OCR. In Part 2 we asked ChatGPT about a training plan for 3 months of OCR. We advise you to to take this with a grain of salt. We published this because we are interested in how ChatGPT can interface with our community. Yes,

ChatGPT on “How to train for OCR” Part 1

ChatGPT. Even Joe DeSena is talking about it as a tool to train. Our question is, what can it give you? In part 1 we asked it to give us a blog post with tips for training. In part 2, which is coming soon we asked it for a specific training plan. We leave it

Hazelwood OCR Massacre Race Review

Ask any participant in an obstacle course racing (OCR) event what was their favorite part and they seem to always say “the obstacles”.  People show up to OCRs for the obstacles and a common complaint is, “I wish there were more obstacles”.  If that sounds like you, then you need to head to Hazelwood OCR

ChatGPT discusses Obstacle Course Racing

They say curiosity kills the cat. And I was curious. Could ChatGPT talk about obstacle course racing? For those who have not seen anything about ChatGPT in the news. The easiest way to explain ChatGPT is it is a well-trained AI bot that responds to human interaction and can produce text accordingly. Best explained in

The Return of Bonefrog Challenge

Bonefrog Challenge is BACK. After it was announced that 2022 that Bonefrog would not be returning the OCR world was surprised by the announcement that Bonefrog had been sold to Josh March of EmPowered OCR. They will be launching on September 2nd 2023  with one event in Lancaster PA with their eyes on future events

Race Review: Hannibal Race Kuwait

I recently had the opportunity to travel all the way to Kuwait for Hannibal Race, my first Obstacle Course Racing World Championship (OCRWC) qualifier of 2023.  This is my 5th Hannibal Race and third time I’ve taken a transatlantic flight to make it to one of their events.  Here’s how I thought 2023 went and

The 2022 OCR Buddy Awards Results

You nominated. You voted. And the winners are here. OCR Buddy is proud to present the 2022 OCR Buddy Community Choice Award Winners. The awards show: The data: 2022 OCR Buddy Nomination Data Voting Results Editors note: We had a couple technical glitches with the voting form which is why some nominees may look like

2022 OCR Buddy Community Choice Awards VOTING OPEN

Last year the community spoke and named their favorites when OCR Buddy presented the OCR Community Choice Awards. The awards are back and we want to hear your voice as the community picks its favorites in the 2022 OCR Buddy OCR Community Choice Awards. Voting Closes December 14th 2022. Your winners will be announced: TBD

The 2022 OCR Community Choice Awards: Nominations OPEN

Last year the community spoke and named their favorites when OCR Buddy presented the OCR Community Choice Awards. The awards are back and we want to hear your voice as the community picks its favorites in the 2022 OCR Buddy OCR Community Choice Awards. Nominations are open now through November 25th, 2022 Voting will open

Stretching Is Overrated

Stretching Is Overrated! Yep, you read that correctly. Stretching is overrated. In my opinion, at least. Let’s simply look at common situations: An athlete gets injured and says it is because he/she does not stretch enough. Another athlete who does stretch often, and perhaps does yoga, becomes injured. The injured athlete starts stretching only to

Resting Rarely Fixes Injuries

Have you ever experienced pain from training, decided to take a couple days or maybe even weeks off, just to have the pain return when you got back to training? If you are an athlete, your answer is likely YES. And if you answered YES, you are not alone. It is a common situation for

Overuse Injuries

Overuse. Is this really a thing? Have you ever experienced an injury somewhere and been told by a medical professional that it was due to overuse? Most likely, the answer is yes, because it is used as the cause way too often for anything that is a chronic-type onset. When that happens, you accept it

Stop Blaming Your Glutes

The glutes get blamed for so many things. “My therapist told me my glutes are weak,” “My doctor told me to strengthen my glutes,” “I think my knee pain is due to weak glutes.” I could go on and on about the things I hear on a daily basis. Because of that, you spend weeks

New Shoes Won’t Fix Your Problem

Ever wonder why there are so many running shoes at the store, all of which have different types and amounts of cushion, different technology to minimize pronation, and some have claims that they will reduce injury, and yet we still have 80% of runners injured every year? It is because the shoe you are wearing

Gear Review: ORORO Buffalo Gloves

ORORO, the company known for provided great pre/post-race heated apparel and keeping my pit crew warm as I run around for 24+ hours at time (watch the OCR Everest 10 minute documentary).  Besides  having heated scarfs, vests, socks, seat warmers and jackets, they also have heated gloves.  I picked up a pair of their Buffalo

Spot Treating Pain Never Works

Does this sounds like a familiar pattern for you: You feel pain…You massage, stretch, and ice the area…You may rest for a week or two…After some online searching, you decide to do some random strength exercise you saw…Months later your pain has not changed. Or maybe yours is more like this: You feel pain…You self

Gear Review: ORORO’s New Batteries

I race in the extremes.  Extreme hot (48 hours of Endure The Gauntlet), extreme cold (OCR America 2), extreme elevation (OCR Everest), extreme pain (OCRmill 24) and extreme distance (Ultra-OCR) .  When it comes to how I spend my time off the course or between laps, I try to maximize comfort.  This is where ORORO

GoFundMe for fundraising for your favorite charity?

Every year I do a self-created Ultra-Obstacle Course Racing (Ultra-OCR) charity event.  They often get progressively more questionable each year in the past have included things like 24 hours of treadmill OCR, 48 hour multi-lap, 8 day of 8 OCR marathons in the winter and 2022’s climb the height of Everest while doing obstacles.  When

The Truth About Flat Feet

“I have flat feet, so….” I often hear this said as a statement of fact, as if it is something that cannot be changed. And yet, when talking about any other issue with the body, it is never stated as if it something that cannot improve. (Yes, I do realize that a small percentage of

You Cannot Outstrengthen Bad Movement

When injuries happen, we often think it is because an area is weak. While that is not necessarily wrong, that is not necessarily the only issue. If it were purely a strength issue, I don’t think we would see as many non-contact and ‘overuse’ injuries happen in professional sports as we do. So, what is

The Reason Your Injury Is Sticking Around

Your nagging injury and pain will not go away.  It has been months, perhaps years, and you have tried everything – physical therapy, chiropractor, ice, heat, stretching, strengthening, rest, injections, and maybe even surgery.  Nothing has helped.  You still are not able to train…or live your life for that matter.  You are frustrated to say

What’s the Difference with the BleggMit Styles?

If you’ve been in the Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) world for more than a couple of months you probably have heard of BleggMits.  BleggMits are OCR gloves created by world champion OCR athlete and adventure racer Deanna Blegg.  To put simply, they are neoprene mittens that allow you to fold back the top exposing your

Fix Your Movement Patterns

I know you have seen that person at the gym…The one that can’t get their hips down in a squat so they lean forward with their torso to counterbalance and to feel like they are deeper in the squat than they are. And that person who has a ‘stripper butt’ when they deadlift, clean, or

Your Injuries Don’t Have To Last So Long

When  injuries occur, the common treatments tend to be  rest, ice, pain meds, rolling, massage guns, stretching, and sometimes immobilization. Months later, rather than the issue being resolved, one of three scenarios has often resulted: 1) the same pain remains present, 2) the pain has gotten worse and you are no longer training, or 3)

Race Review: The Siege

Thanks to OCR Buddy, I’ve been finding hidden Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) gyms all over the USA.  Their app makes it easy to find races off the beaten path, which brings me to The Siege in Garden City, KS.  Located right in the middle of Kansas, I decided to venture out there to see what

Your Pronation Is Not Your Problem

It was decided years ago that pronation was bad and it needed to be controlled. As a result, orthotics have being prescribed to nearly everyone who walked into the door of a podiatrist. Along with that, shoes were created to stop us from pronating and the major shoe companies continue to “improve their technology” in

Causes Of Running Injuries

Running injuries are frustrating. Occasionally they are traumatic injuries from a fall or misstep, but most times they come on seemingly out of nowhere. One day you are training pain free and the next day you are not. It is confusing and frustrating. I’m here to clear a little of this up for you…or at

Foot Control Can Decrease Injuries

Do you know what your foot is doing while it is on the ground? Most people do not. I can honestly say I was guilty of this myself for a long time. I thought I knew what my foot was doing, but I realized how wrong I was. Your foot is a ‘tripod’ with the

Race Review: Rugged Maniac NJ

Rugged Maniac is a brand that has been around for a decade boasting the best party in Obstacle Course Racing (OCR).  I’ve been to their events all throughout the Midwest but I’ve never been to one of their events on the coast.  With a race near my extended family, I headed out to Englishtown, New

Fix Your Chronic Injuries The Right Way

We are movement and exercise are great for us, physically and mentally, but eventually you develop pain in your joints, muscles, and/or tendons. When things get bad enough, your physician then tells you to stop your activities because they are bad for your joints. What gives? If exercise is so good for us, then why

Generate More Speed, Power, And Strength

Ever wonder why those around you seem to be making progress with their training, getting stronger and faster, while you feel like you are being left behind? Or why you have done mobility drills every single day for the past 6+ months without any apparent gains being made? It comes down to what I call

Race Review: Frontline OCR

Frontline OCR  one of the absolute best races we have ever participated in, by far!! Tough As Funk!  30+ obstacles (I counted 40!) 6 miles, beautiful and tough terrain. Well run, like clockwork, incredibly organized and well planned. Day 1. We arrived a day early and checked out the newly laid course. Race Ready Obstacles,

Become Resilient And Unstoppable

How do you rate your resiliency on a scale of 1-10? Do you find yourself constantly injured, always nursing some ache or pain or training through pain? Or do you only experience an injury if you have a traumatic event occur? The more resilient you can make your body, the better athlete you will be.

Race Review: BONEFROG NJ

BONEFROG, the world’s only US Navy SEAL inspired Obstacle Course Race (OCR), has been around for years.  Despite being a mainstay of the industry they recently announced they were canceling all their 2022 events but two (Massachusetts and New Jersey).  Worried I might miss my only chance to run a BONEFROG, I booked a last

On Endurance: Lessons from OCR for the Wider World of Endurance Sports

Since 2017, I’ve been recording podcasts on my show Strength & Speed OCR.  With over 200+ episodes I’ve had some great guests that have shared some amazing insights on training, mastering complex skills and competing.  Rather than let their lessons be buried amongst hours of other podcasts, I decided to pull out the lessons specific

OCR Everest: Lessons Learned

For this year’s charity event I decided I was going to climb the height of Everest, 29,032 feet and do obstacles to raise money for Infinite Hero Foundation (PLEASE DONATE HERE and watch the full 10 min professionally produced documentary here).  Mountain running is not my forte but Ultra-Obstacle Course Racing (ultra-OCR) is, so this presented

Spartan Action Plan: Marketing Perspectives

The article from the Wall Street Journal has caused a lot of conversation about Spartan’s future and what they can do to turn the tide. It also became about if the tide should be turned or not. We wont even start this debate. For me, I am a marketing nerd. I do it for a

From the Founder: Spartan Action Plan

On May 16th, the Wall Street Journal reported that Spartan Race faced a cash crunch.  The obstacle racing community was fired up on both sides of the Spartan fence.  Those that love Spartan tried to give a rationale as to why this is temporary, and Spartan will bounce back.  The anti-Spartan crowd had fodder to

OCR Everest Gear Choices

Recently I ran my 7th self created Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) charity event called OCR Everest (watch the full 10 minute professional produced documentary here).  The plan was simple, climb the height of Everest and do obstacles while at the venue of Tough Mudder New England in Stratton Vermont (same location as OCR World Championships 2021/2022). 

Race Recap: Gelt Gladiator

Brampton, Cumbria, UK is home to a small obstacle race called Gelt Gladiator. Being a seasoned OCR fun runner,  I was quite excited to try out a new race. The first obstacle was a muddy trench about 10 metres from the start! Then the mud just kept on coming. Cargo nets, walls broke this up.

Maximizing Your Workout Time

We often think we need to be training for hours a day in order to meet our goals. To some extent, that may be accurate, but many times that is not the case. If you are training for a marathon or longer endurance event, yes, you need to be training longer at times so your

From the Founder: Stupid Sunday

June 5 will always be known as Stupid Sunday because what I did was stupid. How can I explain this better than to explain why? Since I was 13 years old, I have been playing in an “organized pickup” softball game in my hometown that runs from April to October. When I play, it is

Race Recap: Terrain Race Millville NJ

This year, I decided to add another OCR race and join my family for the Terrain Race in Millville, NJ. We were hoping for a fun-filled day at the event since the social media of the event looked great. Unfortunately, we found the event to be very lackluster. The event was listed as a free

The Balance Of Mobility And Stability

Mobility. Stability. We hear and read about both when injured, but many times aren’t sure what needs to be done…or why…or when. As a general, all areas of the body needs a balance of both. With that said, certain joints or areas of the body require more stability, and others require more mobility; these areas

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