Off Course: Inside the Mad, Muddy World of Obstacle Course Racing

A few of the comments mentioned it being difficult to put down. When Beresini was telling her story, or the stories of Tough Mudder and Spartan Race, the story of Hobie Call, I felt the same.Sometime after that, though, I thought it started living into it's title a bit too much and lost direction. Right when we'd get into a race or something where some narrative could've been really cool, oop, sudden diversion into the story of an athlete that, aside from Hobie Call, didn't seem quite deserving of leaving that story behind. Why are we talking about Brian Mackenzie? It started to feel like a collection of Outside Magazine's "Body Work" articles with a page or two of racing in-between.Starts off strongly, but in the end I was hoping for more first-person narrative and storytelling. I think it would've been better had her training season not been derailed.

This book is poorly researched and simply fake. She meets with Joe Desena and never bothers to ask him about how he stole the Peak and Spartan brands from Andy Weinberg and Julian Kopald, but instead kisses his ass. It's a fake history of the sport and does not tell the truth or the real history of the sport. Her subsequent article for Outside magazine on the lawsuit between the founders of the Peak and Spartan Races was also complete garbage that she copied and pasted from Desena's lawyers. She exhibits no integrity in terms of telling the real story and for this reason... the book is garbage, It's a fake history and does not tell the truth about how Joe Desena defrauded his partners and has been lying to the world ever since about who he is and how the races began. Was she paid by Desena to cover up the real story? This book is fake.

This book is a snapshot in time of the obstacle racing world, the races, the people, and the places. Beresini captures it all in her new book. As the reader we follow her through her journey from injured triathlete to obstacle racer and brings us along the way as we meet the cast of people and races from a behind the scenes look. For anyone interested in the sport of obstacle racing or just likes a good read about a journey and an adventure this is one to pick up. In many ways it is the Born to Run of Obstacle Racing.

Great read, from a very funny author. But it is a well thought out semi-diary spanning her training for the ULTRA-BEAST!

As a dedicated couch potato, I did not think I'd get much out of reading this... but it succeeds in being more about the people and history of the sport, rather than a training manual. The author succeeded nicely at drawing me in to accounts of personalities and events that I normally wouldn't be remotely interested in, which is no mean feat. I'd definitely recommend it if you're in to running and obstacle courses at all, but you'll probably enjoy it even if you aren't.

Erin dove head first into the obstacle racing world in 2012-2013. What she wrote was an awesome account of her personal journey to and through the Spartan Ultra Beast. (the toughest obstacle race that has been created to date). Along the way, she gives some great information and insight into the history of this new sport. She also gives an unbiased opinion on many who have been involved in OCR since its inception.

All you need to know about OCR racing, its history and the major players. Fun to read and you'll never take your Achilles tendons for granted again.

I would add this to the lists of "Must Reads" for anyone looking to get into obstacle racing.

Well written, gives a good idea of the OCR world. I enjoyed the book

Entertaining and lots of great background info on the OCR world.

Not what I was expecting.More of a journal through the authors experience than a book about Obstacle Racing and the development of a sport.

Great read and fast service for posting