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After talking about my crazy race schedule for this month you might think that I would want to slow things down after the Palmetto70, right? After all, come Saturday I’ll be running more miles than I have ever run before (just over 16). So it would be nice to take a few weeks off to rest and recover.

Too bad that just isn’t my style.

Dan has been eyeing the Bulldog Challenge, a 10K obstacle course put on by marines at the Citadel, for quite some time. So when they offered me the opportunity to put a team together I shrugged my shoulders, and said what the heck.

Might as well at this point. Plus, this will be nothing like the races from the past few weeks.

This will incorporate team work, strength training and endurance into one magical 6.2 mile event.

Yesterday I felt like quite the bad ass when I was allowed the opportunity to interview Sgt. Letterle, the race director of the in event. Not only did I get to do the interview, but I also got to see a part of the course, try out a few of the obstacles and received some tips on how to handle them… yup, I felt like somebody! It was so cool. Don’t worry the entire interview (and me looking not so cool) will be posted soon.

What I love about most about this event (besides that it’s local) is that is it’s 16th year! That’s right, I claim it as being one of the first “mud runs” and therefore responsible for the huge boom in popularity of mud run/obstacle courses.

While my legs might be stronger in the running part of the event, there will be a lot of team work needed for:

-Climbing walls

-Pull-ups (teams will have to complete 60 before moving on)

-Carrying sandbags (each team of four has to carry these through the entire course) AND ammo boxes

-Sledging/swimming through Charleston pluff mud (the worst smelling stuff ever)

-Rope climbs

-Carrying members through parking decks

-And so much more

There isn’t a lot about the events available, I only know this much because Amanda has done this race in the past.

Meet “Team BootFit”

As soon as we decided to partake, we had 3 out of 4 members:

1. Dan

2. Amanda

3. Myself

All of us are boot camper trainers.

We needed 1 more brave soldier and I immediately thought of Katie, my running friend and a crossfitter. She was more than willing to fill the last spot and thus:

“Team BootFit” was born (get it… boot camp + crossfit?).

Though we aren’t going into this challenge expecting to come out the winners, we all have quite a competitive spirit so I have no doubt we will work amazing as a team and finish by giving it 110%.

All of us have our own strengths and weaknesses to bring which is perfect, we can help each other out and have a pretty  balance team.

For example, Dan is not a runner. He hasn’t run over 3 miles in years but he is incredibly strong and will be key to tossing our girly butts over walls! And showing some tough love when we I need it.

My personal strength? Speed and the natural urge to be a motivator/team captain (from running boot camps). I hope to help Dan when he wants to slow down and help the others by being supportive and just going with the flow.

Overall, I can not wait! I got even more excited about the event when I was given the opportunity to head down to the Citadel campus yesterday to do a quick interview with one of the race directors.

He got me a bit nervous (and made me feel old with all the Mrs’s and “yes ma’ams) but more importantly, he got me pumped up for this event!

When it’s all done, I promise I’ll take a few weekends to rest from all the mayhem that my poor body has been forced to endure… though I am pretty sure it’s loved every minute of it!

Personal Prep: KT Tape

During my trail run back in January, I tweaked my knee making a running decent. It doesn’t bother me when I run but doing lunges, step-ups and sometimes plyo does affect it quite a bit. With the Bulldog Challenge, I obviously don’t want to risk injury so I decided to pick up some KT Tape.

What’s KT Tape… well, according to their website:

At this point for me, KT Tape is overly priced athletic tape but it’s suppose to be extra helpful and supportive for overuse injuries and joint pain so I am open to giving it a shot. I grabbed a roll at Dicks Sporting Goods when we picked up our kettlebells this weekend. I want to say it cost around $ 16.

I want all the help I can get, even if it’s a result of a placebo effect. Because it’s my outer right knee that gives me trouble, I turned to the KT website for instructions. If you’re interested, here is how recommend I tape.

I am going to test it out this week to see if I think it will be helpful during the event. I’ll keep you posted!

-Do you like obstacle course races? 

-Ever tried KT Tape or something similar?

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