Background

Brittney Bagley grew up in a genetically blessed family on a ranch in Florida and had an active lifestyle running track, dancing, and playing soccer and volleyball. But when she was forced to quit the Air Force ROTC in her junior year of college due to health issues, her poster-worthy lifestyle started on a downward spiral of making poor decisions. She started embracing a college life of drinking heavily and eating poorly, which made her reassess where she wanted to be.

“I’m one of four children in my family, one of whom is a twin sister to me. Being so close in age and appearance to my sisters, I’ve always found it hard to find my own identity. That, combined with a string of very unfortunate losses, made me venture out to see what the rest of the world offered,” Brittney shared.

Brittney’s Travels

At 22 years old, and in her last semester of college, she moved to Alaska for a summer job working at a rafting company. For the next few years, she focused all of her time on traveling and jumping from seasonal job to seasonal job. This lifestyle laid claim to residencies in Alaska, Utah, Colorado, Florida, and even Nicaragua for a short time.

“I remember the first time I ever heard of or saw an obstacle course race was while working a promotion at a Tough Mudder in Colorado. I fell in love instantly but never would have imagined I’d be participating myself one day,” she said.

Heading back to Florida in 2014, she realized that she still wasn’t in a place she wanted to be, and hit rock-bottom finding herself in a destructive relationship and a desk-job she didn’t enjoy.

Her Turning Point

Brittney said, “When I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the person looking back at me, I knew it was time to make a change. I had become this lazy person who made excuses, and I had always hated that person. I was known for seeking adventure and tackling seemingly impossible challenges, but I had somehow become this watered-down version of myself. All of my decisions were made based on someone else, and their happiness, and I knew it was time to seek my own happiness”.

She started out with a goal to complete a few 5km races and then was looking for something more to challenge herself. Tough Mudder was coming to her area for the first time so Brittney signed up and convinced a few of her friends to join her. She started running every day after work and even bought lights to put on her sneakers so she couldn’t use the dark as an excuse. In March of 2015, she ran and finished her first Tough Mudder, with her brother and dad watching on.

Brittney’s OCR Experience

“The race was hard on me and I just barely stumbled across that finish line, but it was a starting point for a whole new addiction. In 2016 I moved to Virginia and signed up for another Tough Mudder and shortly after was introduced to my first Spartan Race, and haven’t stopped running since.”

She now has a partner to train with, having met a man a year ago whom she quickly introduced to the OCR life and he found himself addicted alongside her. Together they set out and obtained a few sponsors. They have since signed up for 5 OCRs and 3 runs this season and will be celebrating their anniversary while crossing the finish line and earning their first Spartan Race trifecta in Fayetteville on September 23.

Brittney says some of her favorite things about OCR are watching weeks or months of preparation pay off and each race becoming slightly easier. But her biggest obstacle is without-a-doubt her grip strength in her left hand, having lost the use of her pinky finger 5 years ago playing on a recreation kickball league.

“The camaraderie and teamwork you find in OCRs are things that make the experience even more indescribable because everyone is there supporting one other while also working on their own obstacles.”

“I never want to be the person who wakes up and lives the same day repeatedly, hating every second of it. I always want to be better than I was the day before and I want to spend every second I’m given making memories I can be proud of,” she says.

Photos: Brittney Bagley and Tough Mudder
Follow Brittney’s blog at https://thewatercolorwanderer.wordpress.com/