Spring’s Toughest Endurance Challenges: Double. Dog. Dare You.

Start with the Navy SEALs. End with an “Arctic Enema.”

By The Editors
April 27, 2016 9:00 am

Though it started a month ago, spring seems to have finally arrived and is in full effect.  

Which means you can’t hide anymore.

Fortunately, there are a near-literal murderer’s row of obstacle courses and endurance challenges coming up to test your fitness ahead of beach season.

To help parse ‘em, we turned to Paul Buijs, who runs the active/endurance events directory Fit Events, where you can find global obstacle races, running events, CrossFit competitions, triathlons, yoga events, fun runs and more.

Here’s a small sampling of events to get your blood pumping, your heart racing and your will tested.

(Note: While these are Buijs’s picks for specific cities, all offer additional events throughout the country, many taking place later this spring or summer. Look on Fit Events for additional locations and dates.)

Rugged Maniac
Oklahoma City, OK, 4/30

As Buijs notes, “It’s the most challenging 5K obstacle race in the country.” Overall, you’re completing 25 epic obstacles … but also getting “one rockin’ party” at the end. And it’s backed by Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban.

BattleFrog Obstacle Race Series
Charlotte Hall, MD, 5/7

What better way to show your red, white and blue than in (well, near) the Nation’s capital with some fellow patriots on an 8K course? BattleFrog takes you through 22+ extremely difficult, military-inspired obstacles (12’ ladder walls, wreck bag carry, etc.).

Spartan Race AT&T Park Sprint
San Francisco,CA, 5/14

How often do racers get the chance to see a professional stadium from the inside out? Don’t miss your opportunity to traverse 20+ obstacles (including “including mud, fire, walls and barbed wire”), explore the stadium’s underbelly and get a behind-the-scenes tour of an MLB powerhouse.

Bone Frog Challenge
Charlemont, MA, 5/21

Celebrate Armed Forces Day by running the original Navy SEAL-designed and -operated obstacle course race. It’s nine miles of the hardest terrain — there’s a new feature every quarter mile. It also has the best tagline: “Would you rather tell your mom you completed a course designed by a Harvard MBA, or US Navy SEALs?”

Tough Mudder
Mesa, AZ, 4/30

The original obstacle race that’s not actually a race. Challenge yourself and overcome your fears against 10-12 miles and some two dozen obstacles: new ones include “The Block Ness Monster” (60 feet of slick, rotating barriers) and Arctic Enema 2.0. That scare you? There’s a new Tough Mudder Half the next day — only five miles. And this year, every Tough Mudder course in the U.S., England and Ireland features a one-mile “Fruit Shoot Mini Mudder” targeted for kids.

Start ‘em early.

Paul Buijs is the founder of Fit Events, a global event directory for active fitness events for participants of all abilities. Paul is a former Marine and Federal Air Marshall. He ranked among the top 150 globally ranked athletes in the Spartan Race points series in 2012, ‘13 and ‘14.

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