Jumping over the fire at the finish line at the SoCal Spartan Sprint

Would you do an OCR alone?

Let me be clear on something. Whenever you run an obstacle course race (OCR) – be it Spartan, Rugged Maniac or especially Tough Mudder – you are never really alone. The reason is simple. It’s the OCR community. The community, the environment, the people, the culture, is something truly special and on any given race…

Detatched

Last week, my in-laws had to put down their dog of eight years, Daisy. Like all golden retrievers, she was a great dog. Unfortunately, like what happens with many golden retrievers, she developed cancer. It was tough. It was her time. But it was definitely the right call. It was also the first real time…

Daisy. A golden retriever.
The dunk wall at the Arizona Spartan Sprint

Why obstacle course racing?

When it comes to obstacle course racing (OCR), I’ve been asked several times about my why. Why do I do it? What reasons could there possibly be to run three to eight miles (or more) over hills and obstacles? Why spend a Saturday racing and the rest of the week complaining? Why do an OCR…

There IS crying in Spartan Race

If my proverbial man card gets temporarily suspended – or revoked – after this, so be it. I’ll earn it back. Perhaps a few manly and appropriately dropped f-bombs will help. For a variety of reasons, this past weekend’s back-to-back Arizona Spartan Races provided a plethora of tears. Tears of frustration, inspiration, pain, exuberance, perseverance,…

Arizona Spartan finish line, 2017

Alone (part two)

Back in August, our son Matt had a very difficult time at a birthday party Dave and Busters. The lights, sounds and crowds can be a lot to handle for someone with autism so as his way of handling things that day, he chose to isolate himself from the others. Inside our little party room,…

Non-Verbal

I never professed to being a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, but I just needed to get the following out. I’ll never forgot when my son was two and half years old and just diagnosed with autism. His speech development had reached the typical 15-20 words but with autism, it had dropped to one or two…

Marcus Eckert from the SCORPION episode "Little Boy Lost"