Race Review - Abominable Snow Race

Who the heck does OCR events in the dead of winter.  Oh yea, we do.

We did this one last year and to be honest, I was not a fan.  It was cold, icy and just not that impressive.

Even though I was hesitant, I was still excited to start doing OCR (obstacle course racing) again.  We had to wake up at the crack of dawn to make the 3 hour drive up to Wisconsin.  It was at a different location than last year.  This year it was at Lake Geneva - a ski resort.

It was cold.  Maybe not as cold as last year but still pretty dang cold.  It was quite a busy place!  Not only were there hundreds of racers but it was a ski resort with fresh snow and people wanted to hit the slopes.  It was a little too crowded, actually.  But that can be over looked.

Outside, Coach Pain was giving his inspirational speech he gives before each wave it released.  That man could inspire the least motivated person to get up and run, I am pretty sure.

We hopped into the next wave (we were late and missed ours)....and were off.  The course this year was enjoyable.  It had some hills, had some challenging (but not impossible) obstacles and once I warmed up, the 4 miles weren't bad at all.

At the end they had medals and a teeshirt.  A lot of races give you your teeshirt when you pick up your packet which I think is dumb.  This race, you get a ticket on your bib and claim it at the end - smart!  They had a few tents, promoting products.  Of course, they had a free beer or hot cocoa at the end - I chose the cocoa.  Overall, I enjoyed it this year.  

I have been hitting the gym pretty consistently for the past 3 months and it showed.  I was able to conquer the inverted wall and a wooden rig without much effort.  An obstacle that I struggled with last year (a tower you had to climb and ring a bell), I scaled it like a spider monkey.  Sometimes you don't see the results into you are put into a situation to use them.  I can definitely tell it has made a different and has motivated me to work harder.

So the review of the event Abominable Snow Race:
Terrain - trails, ski slopes, snowy
Organization - Well organized, slightly overcrowded due to it being ski season
Cost - $49 - bought it last year on sale.  I think it was $75 on race day
Time of the race - 9am was our wave
Overall - very nicely done, second year doing this one and would do it again if at same location
Swag - a medal and a teeshirt (I liked the teeshirt this year, last year not so much)
My Time - didn't care about time on this one
Race #2 (62 total to date)