Battlefrog Carolinas

Hello!

This is what I did yesterday!

I ran the Battlefrog 15k (9 mile) obstacle race at Carolina Adventure World!

Battlefrog is a newcomer to the obstacle racing world, but after hearing rave reviews about their first ever race in Atlanta, I met up with some folks running for Team RWB out of the Augusta/Columbia area.

The team!

The plan was to run at 12 - way later than I'd normally run a race if it was just me. It was 95 degrees yesterday! But I came prepared with sunscreen and lots of water and I didn't have any issues. Ran in my sunglasses (don't usually do for OCR's) and I didn't lose them!

Before we started the race - our teammate James ran the Tadpole (kids race) with Keenan - James runs for him through a group called I Run 4 where you dedicate your runs/workouts to children and adults with disabilities. After they ran the kids race, James "promoted" Keenan to Staff Sgt. We all stood in formation and had a little promotion ceremony, complete with a very official looking award and his own set of ACU's. James gave him all the patches he wears on his own uniform, plus some Battlefrog logo patches and some "Lil' Sarge" nametape. It was so cool! 

Promotion ceremony - I'm the only one not in ACU pants!

After the ceremony we wasted no time lining up at the starting line and taking off to the sound of fake gunfire. They were doing helicopter flights over the course, so you'd randomly hear or see one while you were out running. Within the first minute of starting our race we encountered a nice pool to cool off in. Then we ran into the woods and encountered some log hurdles. I did NOT fall off of them this time, because they were not covered in mud like the ones at Marine Mud Challenge! Got over them easily and was on my way. The 3 teammates behind me asked if I was going to run ahead with the rest of the team and I said yes. However it became clear I wasn't going to be as fast as them. With how hot it was outside I didn't want to run so fast early on. 

A-frame climb

I climbed the 12 foot ladder wall, ran up a hill, and found some other teammates waiting. We waited for the 3 that were behind me to show up. They said they were going to hang back and take it slow because one of them didn't have much to eat and was feeling very weak, plus she was recovering from an injury. I opted to stay back with the 3 - James, Jasmine, and Delaney. Even though we would be going slower than I wanted to, I didn't want to kill myself trying to run fast and I figured I should stick with the team I signed up with instead of going off on my own. There was a traverse wall kind of like Spartan Race, except it was angled and it had a rope to hold onto. Looked intimidating but it wasn't too bad. The next obstacle we encountered an A-frame ladder where the rungs were really far apart, not so friendly to my crappy inflexible hips. James and I ran ahead a bit. It was nice and cool in the woods with alot of downhill running. We came up to some 6 foot walls with a stream immediately next to them. It felt amazing. 

Cargo climb

We sat in the water and waited for the 2 girls. Once they showed up we pretty much all decided to stick together the rest of the way. I pretty much walked this whole race. There were times in the beginning where I wanted to run, but the desire to stick with the team outweighed that. We were also accompanied by a group of 4 - a mom and daughter, an Asian girl, and this young hillbilly guy. At this point most of the course took us through a stream. The water felt awesome on such a hot day. Unfortunately Jasmine lost her camera - so we spent a good 15 minutes looking for it but with no success. As I said we weren't really going for a fast race time here. We were walking through the water for what seemed like an eternity but I didn't mind. I love OCR's with alot of water. We entered a swampy area with a cargo net climb - the kind that's supported by trees with alot of slack in the ropes. Delaney and I tackled this while the other 2 teammates were farther back. Then we started to climb a very long hill. It curved to the left and kept right on being a hill. Then it curved again and it was still a hill! I could see the rest of the team plus the other group of 4 way down below in the swamp, so I shouted "Hi!!! Allow me to predict your FUTURE!!" Then as we get further up the hill, all Delaney and I hear is the hillbilly kid yell "AWW SHIT!!!" as he has clearly seen the massive hill ahead of him. The climb was pretty rough but by the end of it all 4 of us were back together again. There was a rope climb in here somewhere. I gave it 2 attempts. I actually got up the rope a little (all my previous rope climbs resulted in me not moving) but I couldn't seem to get over the second knot. Even though I didn't get it I have at least made some progress!

12 foot rope wall

We entered a sunny area where Jerry Cans filled with water were waiting for us. Each of us had to carry 2 of them down and up a very long hill. My arms were burning by the time I was halfway through but I soldiered on with a smile on my face! Delaney was not looking so great by this point and we were all worried about her. But she was stubborn and said she was fine and wanted to keep going. I know I'd do the same if it was me. The next obstacle for us was the 12 foot rope wall. A vertical wall with a rope, pretty much the "Balls to the Wall" obstacle from Tough Mudder. This was the one that gave me a nasty leg cramp at Tough Mudder, one so bad I couldn't complete the obstacle that day. But this day I was going to do it. I used the side support to help me get up to the first foothold. Getting from the first foothold to the second one was the hardest part. I moved my foot up, leaned back, and held onto the rope for dear life. And there it was. Cramp in my left hamstring. But I ignored it and moved the second foot up to the top rung. I was kind of curled up into a weird ball but I was able to grab the top of the wall and push myself over. Stretched out the leg for a bit while I waited for the others to cross and it ended up being totally fine. 

We rounded back towards the festival area where they had their own brand of energy gel. It did not taste great but it was much appreciated. I was feeling pretty good at this point - I had walked most of the race and the obstacles hadn't taken too much out of me yet. But all that was about to change!

Rope Traverse

Back up by the festival area we crossed some over/under/through walls, some hay bales, and then we were back in the woods once again. Many many hills! At one point we were approaching a hill and James says "Karen, why don't you and Jasmine sprint up that hill?" Jasmine said she didn't want to, but I was watching her closely expecting her to suddenly take off. And she did. She was ahead of me for most of it but I closed in on her towards the end. Gave it everything I had and we reached the top at about the same time. They said I won but I'm not sure. And right smack in front of us were 2 10 foot walls. Bad planning! We caught our breath and then tackled the walls. Next up was a log carry in the hot sun. The logs weren't too heavy. I hydrated more, ate some chews, and moved on downhill for a bit before we reached the rope traverse. Spartan calls it the Tyrolean Traverse - usually found at Beast level races. I've been curious about this one as I will be facing it this year. This thing was effing HARD. I gave it two attempts. Made it farther the second time but it just wasn't happening. It was like gravity was saying "COME INTO THE WATER!!!" as the weight of my entire body constantly threatened to pull me under. It's also very hard to move on these. The pros make it look so easy. They actually made us do 8 count body builders as a penalty (similar to burpees) before we could move on.

Cargo net climb

I was getting tired. My feet were in pain (I'll explain more about that in another post...) The traverse took alot out of me. And right after it we faced the biggest damn hill I have ever seen. It had to be nearly a mile long. It was ree-dic-u-lous!!! That hill wore me out. At the top of it was a cargo net climb. Easy stuff. However once again, this obstacle is a real challenge for some of the newbies. Those who haven't been around the OCR block a few times sometimes struggle with fear of heights. So I cheered people on while waiting for my team. This obstacle was followed by some serious downhills and uphills. The last half of this course was so crazy with hills! At the top of a hill I pretty much had to climb using my hands were the monkey bars. Now I have this weird magical gift when it comes to monkey bars. But this time I honestly feared I wouldn't be able to do them. They were placed at mile 8 and between all the upper body work and the hills, my energy levels were starting to tank. I wiped my hands off real good and just went for it. I used my momentum and just tore through it as fast as possible, because I knew that was the only way I would be able to get across. And I did! Another monkey bar victory.

Storms were beginning to roll in, so despite how tired and in pain we were we pushed onward to try and get done before they shut things down. There was an inverted wall that was in the water, but right as we approached it we saw a huge flash of lightning in the distance so we walked around that obstacle. No point in being stupid.

Tsunami

We approached the festival area once again, and an onslaught of obstacles before the finish line. A paintball challenge - 3 chances to hit the target or face a penalty. It took me 1 shot to figure out how to aim it (there were no crosshairs) then on the second shot I hit the target dead in the chest. After paintball came this beast of an obstacle - Tsunami. This is one of those that just gets worse as the day goes on. We got to it 5 hours after this picture was taken. The whole thing was just covered in mud and basically a giant slip and slide. I gave it my 2 attempts using 2 different ropes. The shorter rope to the left was easier, but I just did not have the strength left in me to get over this thing. I politely bowed out and proceeded to the next obstacle - an incline wall followed by a nice little tube slide into a pool of water.

Incline wall

The final obstacle was a muddy low crawl under wires (not barbed) which was pretty hard for how short it was. There were rocks in there and there wasn't much room to move around. We all wriggled through the battlefield and then the finish line was finally ours! Medals were given and pictures were taken! We reunited with the rest of our team and just reveled in the moment for a little bit before getting cleaned up. All of us met up for a post race meal - it was just Wendy's but it tasted magical after 9 miles of insanity.

I had a great time with Team RWB - even though it was my first time meeting this group of people we shared many laughs, stories, and we all endured that course together. I got to meet Keenan and be a part of his experience that day. He was all smiles - from running the kids race, the promotion ceremony, and all the cool Army souvenirs he got. The whole day was an awesome experience for me.



And it seems that all those great reviews about Battlefrog were no lies. This was a truly well done obstacle race. Checking in was easy, they had tons of food/souvenirs/promotional tents, a kid's course with inflatables to bounce around in, a huge tent with tables and chairs for the spectators (big big plus on a hot day, no other OCR's have this!) and the only downside for me was they had a ticket system - you had to purchase tickets and then pay for food/merch with the tickets. Kind of seems like an unnecessary step to me. The music kept us pumped up, plus they had SEAL demos, helicopter flyovers, and a very excellent staff that got the crowd motivated. I'm pretty sure we also met the founder out there on the course, at the Jerry Can station. He was asking us how we liked the race so far and genuinely cared about putting on a great event. The obstacles were challenging and unique. And obviously Battlefrog made excellent use of the terrain at Carolina Adventure World - lots of twisting trails, mud, tons of water, logs, and hills after hills after hills! It was far from boring. All the obstacles were well built and I was never concerned for my safety.

Plus the medals are awesome - really high quality!

I will definitely run a Battlefrog again next year, or whenever there is one near me. I'd recommend this race to anyone seeking a challenging obstacle/mud run. I wouldn't be surprised if Battlefrog becomes a major contender in the world of OCR because they are off to a great start!