Nate Frasier sits atop the Blockness Monster looking to help his teammates over the top during the second day of the Tough Mudder Indiana Classic , Aug. 4, 2019 at Ceraland.
The Republic file photo
After Louie Souza completed a 12-hour Tougher Mudder race last year in Chicago, he told his fiance that he wouldn’t spend a lot of time training for a similar event this year.
That was before the Tough Mudder organization decided to contest one of its handful of Tougher Mudder races in Columbus. Ceraland will host the event from 8 p.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Aug. 7.
“Last year, doing the 12-hour race up in Chicago, I had told my then-fiance that is now my wife that I wouldn’t do a race this year,” Souza said. “But when this one came here, I signed up, much to her chagrin. But I’m thrilled to do this in my hometown when I’ve been doing it all over the country. This is pretty neat.”
Ceraland, which hosted Tough Mudder events in 2019 and 2021, also will host waves of 5K events Saturday morning and the morning of Aug. 7. This will be its first time hosting the Tougher Mudder, which is a qualifier for the World’s Toughest Mudder, a 24-hour competition.
Souza will be one of at least five local competitors who will be attempting the Tougher Mudder. He will be joined by defending Tough Mudder 5K winner Gabe Ocasio, along with Nate Frasier, Sarah Hashman and Kate Bordenkecher.
“I was beyond excited,” Ocasio said. “I just couldn’t believe it just because most of those longer events were out west. To bring it here, they wanted to get people more mileage because it’s flat and a soft surface, and they just thought really highly of Ceraland.”
Eventual winner Gabe Ocasio crosses the water hazard at the Rope-A-Dope obstacle during the Tough Mudder Indiana Classic July 31, 2021 at Ceraland.
The Republic file photo
Ocasio, a former standout cross-country and track runner at Columbus North who competed at the collegiate level, has done some shorter endurance events. He won a Tough Mudder 10-miler in Nashville prior to winning last year’s event at Ceraland.
“I’m about to be 30 this year, so I just wanted to do some longer endurance events, moreso with the goal of completion and not necessarily going a fast time or anything like that like I plan to do with Mill Race (Marathon) in September,” Ocasio said. “The goal for this one is just to make it all 12 hours and just be disciplined throughout and just have a good time — as good a time as you can moving for 12 hours.”
Frasier, a former North basketball and baseball player, trains athletes at his MVP facility. He did a 12-hour Tougher Mudder in 2019 in Las Vegas, where he completed 25 miles.
“I’m now 40, so this keeps something on my menu to keep me training,” Frasier said. “For me, the fun is the challenge. I’m not a runner like Gabe is, so that 10K is not a sprint for me. It is still a run. So just being able to push myself, with the number of athletes that I train, it keeps me in shape so that you can continue to keep working out and have fun with it and have a goal, shoot for something and accomplish something along the way, which is what’s important to me and important in teaching them. I teach them that you can’t just work out to work out. You have to have a goal of something in mind, so me having something on the menu helps to drive me to keep going.”
Frasier also has run four marathons and has completed several sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. He said for him, the 12-hour Tougher Mudder is more easily doable than a marathon.
Each of the 10K (6.2-mile) laps at Ceraland will feature 20 obstacles.
“The breaking it up is so much nicer,” Frasier said. “You’re really never running more than a fourth of a mile at one moment in time. It breaks up the monotony of the running, so that you’re not just continuously doing the same thing to your legs over and over again. The running is almost secondary after you get into it because there are so many other things to do.
“At least you get a break to do something else, do some pullups to require some blood to flow somewhere else and get some of the things to activate,” he added. “So for me, the hardest part of the 12 hours is the mental piece. Can you keep moving for 12 hours? That’s the goal.”
Kate Bordenkecher, left, and Sarah Hashman jump over a fire pit during a Spartan race in 2021 in Attica.
Submitted photo
Hashman and Bordenkecher, meanwhile are best friends who try to make it through the endurance events together. They met at Farrell’s Extreme Body Shaping in 2012 and got into obstacle course racing the following year.
Since then, they’ve done several Spartan races.
“When Columbus had the first Tough Mudder at Ceraland, I told Sarah, ‘We have to do this,’” Bordenkecher said. “It was a lot of fun. It’s very much a camaraderie event, where Spartan is more of an individual competition. The reason why I love the Tough Mudders the most is because when I did it in the past, I got through every obstacle.”
Bordenkecher, who played volleyball and rugby at North Central in Indianapolis, has run several mini marathons and did the Spartan Trifecta — a Sprint, Super and Beast — for the first time last year. She talked Hashman into doing the beast with her.
“I wasn’t able to do all of the obstacles,” Hashman said. “I wasn’t at the physical level I needed to be to do all of those. So I came back from that super motivated and work outside my comfort zone so that I could maybe my next race, go after those obstacles in a different way because I haven’t had that strength before.”
Hashman, who played softball and basketball and ran cross-country at Columbus East, works weekends as a case manager at Columbus Regional Health, so she is able to compete only a few weekends each year. She has done a Tough Mudder and a few Spartan events, along with the Rugged Mainiac in Paoli and two mini marathons.
“I don’t necessarily have a lap goal,” Hashman said. “I want to not fail on the obstacles. If I get fewer laps in, but I’m able to do every obstacle, that would mean more to me than the number of laps I’m able to get in. My goal is to see how far I’ve come since the beast, how much I’ve improved in these obstacles and prove to myself that I can do it.”
Bordenkecher had knee surgery last November, not long after the Spartan Beast event.
“My knee is just now recovering from a couple months ago, so it’s going to be an interesting race for me,” Bordenkecher said. “My goals are going to be a little bit different for this race than they usually are.”
Louie Souza climbs the Mudderhorn during the Tough Mudder Indiana Classic Aug. 3, 2019 at Ceraland.
The Republic file photo
Souza, a former soccer and basketball player at North, was married June 24. He and his wife live in Indianapolis, and he works in Columbus.
The Tougher Mudder will be Souza’s third. He also has done two World’s Toughest Mudders and several Triathlons and half-Ironmans.
“Every time I’ve done one of these races, I’ve competed alone, so I’m really looking forward to doing this race with some friends, including Nate and Gabe,” Souza said. “Gabe will probably be a little faster, but I think that Nate and I will probably run the majority of the race together. Having somebody to pace together with will be nice. There will definitely be other competitors that I’ve met over the years. And I’m definitely looking forward to not having to drive home after a 12-hour race to get some sleep.”
Souza completed 25 miles in one of his previous 12-hour races and 40-miles in the 24-hour race. His goal for next weekend is 35 miles.
Ocasio is hoping to complete 30 miles, which is what marathoners consider an “ultra.”
“Another ‘A-Goal’ would be just to keep the body moving for all 12 hours and see where we end up,” Ocasio said. “The word on the street is that something ends up hurting at some point. It’s how much you can tolerate that. Doing a 5K or a 10K is a little bit different because you’re kind of red-lining the whole time. You red-line early in the 12-hour, you’re not going to make it. Being a little bit more disciplined, especially early in the race, is going to be key, even though I don’t have that experience. I just know that from talking to people and just knowing endurance events in general.”
Much of that discipline will come through hydrating and taking in nutrition after each of the 10K (6.2-mile) laps.
Each competitor is allowed up to four members for a “pit crew.” They can store anything from food to dry clothes and shoes.
“You might want a couple pair of shoes to keep your feet from pruning up and getting blisters,” Ocasio said.
“It’s actually quite fun to watch how people deal with the pit crew stuff,” Frasier added. “For people who are just there to do it, you can have your peanut-butter sandwich. They have microwaves set up, so some people will heat up ramen and get something warm in their belly when they’re going through. The last one I did, a guy would literally inhale a whole bucket or ramen and take back off in 30 seconds.”
Frasier’s nutrition will be a little more simple.
“I’ll probably eat half a peanut-butter sandwich and then some sort of quick sugar, so either a handful of skittles or douse my mouth full of honey so I can get some quick sugar supply in, then grab some water on my way out,” Frasier said.
“I will take a different approach,” Ocasio said. “I’ve practiced with this in longer cycling events, like the Tour de Donut event. I tried having full tacos and pizza, and I responded well off of that. So I might be utilizing that microwave a little bit. I’ll probably have a couple full meals, only because I’ve tried it before.”
