The Lion's Chase

The Lion's Chase Obstacle Race was held in Corbin, KY last Saturday morning (September 10th). This is a great event that features more than 50 fun and challenging obstacles over a 5 kilometer course that includes huge hills and creek crossings. This year 665 people completed the course. The race was not without some issues, but over-all it is a great event. Joslyn, Jessica and myself all competed well this year, and I hope to go back with a much larger group next year.

Joslyn Stanfield was the Women's 30-39 winner with a time of 54:00. This was Joslyn's first ever obstacle race and she had the 66th fastest time of the 655 finishers. It is no surprise that she competed so well with her determination and all-around athletic ability. Since I last wrote about her completing her first marathon, Joslyn has also completed several more half-marathons. Her most impressive results include lowering her personal best to 1:49:46 at the Kentucky Ale Horse Capital Half and winning her age group at the Hatfield McCoy Half.

Jessica Proffitt had the most impressive finish of the day winning the women's competition by more than 2 minutes with a time of 44:53. Jessica finished 4th at last year's women's competition and it was her main athletic goal for this year to come back and win. Despite a number of odd ailments that could have slowed her down, she not only won the women's competition but also finished 27th over-all. Since I last wrote about her, Jessica has won several 5k's and lowered her personal best to 21:53.

This was my first ever obstacle race. While I thought it would be fun, it far exceeded my expectations. This race saw me trip and take a header early and a couple of altercations with barbed wire left me shirtless and with a hole in my shorts. While those things didn't slow me down, I somehow ran off course for a substantial chunk of time. I'm sure that cost me a few places but I still managed to record the 7th fastest time of the day (38:03) and win my wave by a large margin. I hope to compete for the win next year, but I'm sure the competition will be tough.