If you want to put that in perspective, in 2013, which is the last year Running USA had stats for running races, about a half million people did a marathon and 2 million people did a half-marathon," says Erin Beresini, author of "Off Course: Inside the Mad, Muddy World of Obstacle Course Racing." "So obstacle-course racing, in the course of five years, grew bigger than marathons and half-marathons combined." "Some people have estimated that more than 4 million people participated in obstacle-course racing last year. There are dozens of companies getting into the obstacle-course and mud run business - it's perhaps the fastest growing individual sport in the country, and it's not even really sure it's a sport yet. Spartan Race and Tough Mudder are the biggest, but there are many, many others, with names like Atlas Race, Warrior Dash, BattleFrog and Muddy Buddies. When she did her first Tough Mudder with co-workers, in 2011, Boone couldn't even do a single pull-up.Īround the country, in empty fields, on farms and in former dirt-bike parks, obstacle-course races are held nearly every weekend. Yet there's nothing about her that would hint at this kind of physical dominance or this capacity for suffering. Along the way, she's become obstacle racing's first and arguably its biggest star, signing autographs for young fans and garnering a sizable contract with Reebok. The slight 31-year-old has won the women's competition in nearly every obstacle-course race she's entered - and beaten most of the men, too. And early in the morning, before she had to clock in as a corporate bankruptcy attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, she would practice throwing a long, sharpened stick into that hay bale. The police shut down her spear-throwing practice in the park, so she hauled a hay bale down to a secluded spot by Soldier Field, where the train tracks come in - and where, presumably, no one would notice. "I actually had to speak to the cops once," says Amelia Boone, a two-time World's Toughest Mudder champion and Spartan Race world champion. If you live in a high-rise in downtown Chicago, there simply aren't many places to practice throwing a spear.Īt least, there aren't many places that won't attract police attention.
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