Join US for a Tough Mudder in LA!

You’re going to find out how tough a Tough Mudder is. Well, if you’re in LA on March 4th, you can. Not only can you find out how hard a Tough Mudder really is, you can have support from both Hungry & Fit during the race. We both just signed up the Half Mudder (~5 miles) on the 4th of March, 2017, in the Los Angeles area. (It isn’t in Downtown LA!) Now, we want you to sign up, train with us and even race with us.

Back in 2009, Warrior Dash (basically) started the Mud Run movement in the United States. At that time, terms such as Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) and what not weren’t being thrown around since not many people knew about it. Hungry jumped into his first Warrior Dash in 2010 and the rest is history. Since then, not only have Hungry & Fit competed in everything from the Men’s Health Urbanathlon to the Bubble Run, we’ve also helped others tackle these challenges.

Dec092015

Tough Mudder with the Panda Nation

In October of 2016, I will be competing in a Tough Mudder with the World Wild Fund for Nature’s Panda Nation. I have set a goal to raise a significant amount of money by that event and in the interest of getting right to the point, please read my story below and visit my page. Any gifts would be greatly appreciated, but don’t worry, you’ll be hearing plenty more about this in the next ten months because setting ridiculous goals can help you be accountable on the path of getting hungry & fit!

Aug192013

Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain…DESTROYED!

This past Saturday, a team of my clients and Chris went to the Colorado Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain and killed it! I run an Obstacle Course Race Training Group and these girls were prepared for the worst! After the race, they admitted that our training sessions were harder than the actual race, which is good! You always want to over-prepare than under-prepare. Beyond physical effort, it was a lot of fun, especially in a 5-person group.

Before the race

Our heat wasn’t until 4:30pm (it was the only time left to sign up for!), which was a bummer, but we were excited anyhow. We all piled in one of the girl’s van and went on our way from Boulder to Copper Mountain. It didn’t take long, maybe 1.5 hours tops–I didn’t really notice as I was enjoying company and conversation. We stopped at Big Daddy Bagels on the way for some carb-loading and traveled through the mountains. When we got there, the partying was already full-blown as many heats had already gone by. Us girls were all dressed as Wonder Woman and Chris, of course, wore only a batman mask and tutu. That’s it! He by far got the most attention and had plenty of photo ops. It was great. He totally played it up during the race as well, throwing me on his back and doing some squats for the crowd.

Chris & I

Crazy busy

Beautiful views!

AWESOME Batman-in-a-tutu human flag

After changing, wandering around, dancing with the huge crowd, and taking lots of fan pictures, we were ready to go. Sick of waiting! Even though our heat wasn’t until 4:30, I believe we started somewhere around 3:55, closer to 4. All we had to do was jump into the starting line with all others and go! The start is a little slow because everyone is rushing out, but we got to a point for a steady pace. After all, we weren’t being competitive–we did this to have fun! And we certainly did. We all did fairly well with the running, but 3 out of the 5 of us were recovering from colds so we all had a little congestion. But that didn’t stop us!

Musclesss

The obstacles were easier than compared to the one Chris and I did a few years back in Windham, New York. But it was still a lot of fun. We killed the tires and the crawling (the girls are used to that), and the mud pit was great. They threw the mud pit at us a lot earlier than expected so that we were heavy with mud for the rest of the weight, adding at least 5 pounds to each of us. We went through different obstacles, some involved ropes, others tunnels, and barbed wire. Probably the most dangerous ones were when we had to climb up to the top of this wooden-planked type structure and then walk/slide down it. One of them went up about 15-20 feet, and it was the most dangerous because we and the structure were both very muddy and wet, making it easy for someone to slip off. However, none of us sustained any injuries!

“After” pic of Batman & Wonder Woman

We made it!!

Close-up

The showers…they were actually WARM!

Tutu death pile

Everyone there was very supportive and it was an all-around good time. I’m very proud of the ladies for kicking butt all the way through and Chris for actually making it the whole way with his tutu (after it gained ten pounds of mud). It was a great experience with great people and we’re sure to do it again. Afterwards, a few of us enjoyed Beaujo’s (a gourmet pizza joint that’s also in Boulder), where we were too exhausted to really talk until we got some food in us. Catch us next month at the Devil Dash in Lyons, Colorado! Enter in an adventure race to stay hungry and fit!

Beaujo’s pizza as per Chris’ instagram

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Jun232013

Warrior Dash 2013: Costume Ideas

Obstacle races have become tremendously popular in the United States over the course of the past four years. I remember in 2009 when I participated in the first round of Warrior Dashes, before the Tough Mudder and Spartan Races were available. It was a blast and ever since then I have competed in other similar events, including the Men’s Health Urbanathlon. Obviously, these three major organizations are not the only ones running these races but they have become behemoths in the industry.

Tough Mudder supposedly made $70 million last year. I’m sure that figure will only grow as more races become available in the United States and internationally. These races were influenced by earlier European challenges and have now grown to become unique in their own right. The Warrior Dash is probably the most fun. I’ve never competed in one, I’ve just done it with friends to have fun. The Tough Mudder is the cash cow, essentially a longer Warrior Dash. (The founder stole ideas from other people, but this is a well known fact.) The Spartan Races are the most challenging and offer everything from sprints to a death race that you need to qualify for by doing ridiculous things (Sprint, Spartan, Beast, Death Race) such as winning a Spartan Beast or being ex-special forces.

To get back to the point, Fit has signed us up for the Colorado Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain on August 17th. I usually register early and do the first heat of the day, but even doing early registration only the last heat was available. The bottom line is that we need to figure out a fun pair of costumes to put together for the race. I’ve raced as Aladdin, we’ve raced in Fit’s high school track uniforms, but we want something amazing. It can be heavy, it can be light, it can be serious or it can be silly. It doesn’t matter to us. I’m not worried about the race itself. For anyone that is scared to participate in a Warrior Dash, it’s not much more than a 5k. The winners are always the strongest runners. The 140 pound men that are light on their feet. I’ve always gotten through the obstacles faster than anyone but I’m just not interested in the running part. So please don’t be afraid. If you can do a few assisted pullups, some pushups, and hold a steady pace on a 5k you can finish with flying colors. So don’t be scared and feel free to join us for the last heat of the race. If you show up and want to race with Hungry & Fit, we will make sure you finish, even if I carry you over the wall of flames.

Us in 2011

So please, fill out the comment section below with some fun suggestions of what Hungry and Fit should dress up as for this Warrior Dash. No ideas are bad ideas and being creative is all a part of staying hungry and fit!

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Mar032013

Get Your Smoothie On: Inta Juice

This weekend, on the way home from a fun triathlon, we stopped at Inta Juice, craving something light, but nutritious and filling. And we got our fill! Inta Juice is a healthier version of Jamba Juice with lots of flavors, fruits, supplements, and boosts to choose from. Overall, we give it a pretty high rating for giving us some hydration back after the race.

We were very pleased with the service, we came at a pretty non-busy time early-ish on a Saturday morning. Feeling tired, drained, and indecisive, we milled about, taking about ten minutes to actually decide. The two girls helping us were very patient, friendly and helpful. We basically told them what we wanted and they suggested various options and even made a custom one for Chris.

We both got 32 oz (and Chris’ came with even more, so I got a good amount of his) cups because Chris was convinced he was starving and could really drink all of them (we semi-regretted that later, but finished it all, of course). I got the Groovin Guava which had guava, pineapple, orange, and some other tropical flavors. It was extremely refreshing but I got throat freeze every ten seconds, which is of course my fault.

Groovin Guava

Chris got something akin to the Power Protein shake, but they added strawberries for him in addition to whey powder, chocolate, peanut butter, and banana. It was very good and filling. Lots of calories and protein! Just we needed after a great race. After he finished his, I still had mine and we shared it on the car ride home.

Remnants of Power Protein

I also tried a 1 oz wheat grass shot. I figured I might as well, I’ve always wanted to try one. It was absolutely disgusting, please never make me do that again. It’s not their fault, it’s my taste buds. And the wheat grass. Yuck.

It was a very pleasant atmosphere. We sat at the place for a good fifteen minutes, talking, cooling down, and relaxing with our smoothies. It was happy decor with lots of bright colors and information. It was very clean as well. It even had a drive-thru! Now this place is in Longmont, so I drive past it every day to and from work, so they may be seeing me more often. We are very pleased we stopped here, it was the perfect thing for our tired, dehydrated bodies. Thanks, Inta Juice!