BattleFrog Extreme (BFX) - Tampa, Florida 2016

This weekend I took on the challenge of BattleFrog Extreme (BFX). Having never run BFX, I was nervous upon approaching Maddox Ranch in Lakeland, Florida. The registration lines were a bit long, which caused me to miss the BFX briefing-don’t be like me. Coach Pain greeted us late comers by making us earn our BFX bands: this included a run, push-ups and flutter kicks. After earning my band, I jogged over to the starting corral, still nervous, jumped the wall and waited with a large group. Coach Pain gave the best motivational speech I’ve ever heard. My nervousness faded, and I was ready to tackle this course with everything I had in me. I wanted as many laps as my body and time allowed. I ran this race for my buddy Joshua: a 7-year-old boy with a congenital heart defect that leaves him unable to be as active as other children. I felt pretty great starting my first lap; there was a good jog before we came to our first obstacle of 6-ft walls .

We were running in sort of a creek that had two fun tunnels to run through. Next came Jerry Can Carries, these sucked! It was a good distance that took us back into a creek and under several walls. My forearms were burning by the time I dropped them off. I figured this would be one of the more difficult obstacles on my following laps.

After the Jerry Cans, the course led us into the woods. There was a lot of trees and mud to jump over . Coming out of the woods was a rope climb / rig. Basically, there was a ring, then a rope followed by another ring. You needed to use the first ring to swing to the rope, climb the rope up and hit the bell, then descend the rope, grab the final ring and swing off the obstacle. Continuing back into the woods, we were met by deep mud. Trudging our way out of the woods, the next obstacle was ladder walls. Up and over two sets, then followed some man-made terrain rock and dirt piles (mounds of grounds) were the next mile with an obstacle cargo climb, 8-ft wall, and monkey bars scattered throughout.The last part of the course had a 12-ft rope wall, under tires, the platinum rig and 60 degrees. The platinum rig had many athletes doing 8 count body builders as the required penalty for not completing the obstacle. After these obstacles, there was a quarter mile run until tip-of-the-spear and the finish line.For BFX runners, you didn’t cross the finish line, you circled around to the BFX tent and a special entrance was flagged for us to start another lap. I ran 3 laps before I really began to feel the course and all the aches and pains that come from so many obstacles and miles. That last lap had to be started by 2:45 and I barely made the cut off with 7 minutes to spare. To be honest, I walked the last lap, really struggling with each obstacle. The pain in my feet and legs was really becoming noticeable. I pushed forward because 4 laps was my goal and I was so close . When I finished this lap, I was relieved and overjoyed. This had been one of the hardest challenges I’d put my body through. I completed 19.2 miles and over 120 obstacles. Tired, sore, sun burned, and bruised, I made it, proving to myself I’m stronger than I realize. The finish line was done right, with a large banner, music and several volunteers ready to give you your medal and direct you to the awesome photo area making it a special moment. As always, Battlefrog gave us a hell of a course, and I can’t wait to go back and tackle five laps in December! Hooya

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Rachel Hunt

Volunteer Coordinator at Savage Race

Rachel is a mom of 3, who stays active by running and training for OCR. To share her passion for obstacle course racing she blogs hoping to spread the love of the sport and all around fitness.

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