Where did Average Joe Go?

Well I know it has been a while since I posted anything.  I still am Average, and I still am fairly Fit.  I will say that blogging took a back seat as my wife got hurt and was unable to do much around the house.  So I had to become a single parent essentially for a solid few months.  I also decided to get my Masters Degree, so that is also taking a lot of time.  At first, I didn't feel like I should do anything outside of the family, school, and the occasional workout.  Although now that I am solidly in the Master's program I know that I have more time then I thought I did.

So while I am not traveling to any OCR events this year, it doesn't mean I am not doing any.  I am going to stay in the greater Portland area and give love to local events this year and probably next.  I have done two already called My Muddy Valentine (Link) and Dirty Leprechaun (Link).  I have a lot more events that I have planned, and most I will say I have never done before.  Namely, Rugged Maniac (Link), Terrain Race (Link), and a Goruck Light (Link).  I will do two events that I did last year mainly the Spartan Race (Link) with the Hurrican Heat added on and hopefully Howl at the Moon.   Howl at the Moon's website hasn't updated so I can only hope they will host it again this year.

I am around and working and being fit.  Today was a rucking work out, and I also picked up garbage along the road that I run.

I will say that carrying a twenty-pound trash bag was a hell of a grip workout.  I probably still could have picked up more, but the bag was tearing, and I didn't want to dump it everywhere.  So I tied it up and hauled it the rest of the way home.

Check out my Instagram for more about my workouts at average_joe_fit772
Don't forget Mudgear and Rock Tape

Average Joe update and Dirty Leprechaun Race Recap:

For the 2018 year for personal reasons, I decided to stick close to home instead of traveling to races.  So instead of traveling for Spartan races, I will spread the love to as many local races. 

The second race of my season was Dirty Leprechaun.  This is a smallish local event that was held at a venue called Lee Farms.  

This venue had several small tents with food and beers.  They also had three large bonfires burning that were lifesavers.  While waiting for the start time and you have already removed all the extra layers that you didn’t want to take on the course.  I know that several people wanted to run the second lap and never left the bonfires as it was quite cold.  The parking on site was great and very well organized.  

With me running the race with my wife as she is trying to recover from her knee injury I decided to run with a ruck pack.  A twenty-pound ruck made the run interesting.  Especially, under the ropes, as the pack got caught every time.  So, I ended up having to completely emerge under the water to get under them.  The sleeves of my white shirt will probably never be white again.

The mud on this race was no joke.  After my last race and the mud took a lot out of me as I tried to take it slow and steady.  This time I got a running start and sprinted across as fast as possible.  By running, I didn’t sink nearly as much and didn’t even have to worry about my shoes coming off this time. 

The only new obstacle that was different then the last race at Lee Farms was a horizontal ladder.  It was a rope ladder that was held on at two points.  It was very prone to tipping, and it was a struggle for a lot of people.  Some crawled, others shimmied down, and I chose to just drag my lower body across.  By keeping the lower half of my body still, I was able to keep the wiggle from the ladder down.  It wasn’t until I reached out to far for the next rung that my pack shifted and the whole thing flipped over.  It wasn’t high enough off the ground to hand under it, so I called it quits about three rungs from the end. 

In the end, the race was the same as the My Muddy Valentine with only the single difference.  The thing I noticed this time was a large lack of volunteers on the course.  The race before had volunteered at almost every obstacle, and this time there were only for or five obstacles that had volunteered at them.  It was too bad, but overall still a very enjoyable race.

This is one of the easier races and would be great for new to obstacle course racers or new to mud runs in general.