Nicole Mericle started racing obstacle course races last May. Over the past weekend, she notched a new achievement in her short OCR career with a win at the Spartan Race U.S. Championship Series in California. Prior to that her best performances were probably at Monterey Spartan Race 2016, 2 wins at Savage Race and then a second at OCR World Championships. So far this year she has placed 2nd at the Spartan Race San Jose Super and 3rd at the Seattle Super.
Her background is in running and rock climbing. She ran for Rice University and was a 10:07 steeplechaser, 4:25 1500m (4:45 mile) runner there. Injuries from running after college pushed me to start rock climbing. I've climbed routes rated 5.12c and V7. We talk about these on the episode.
A typical week would be maybe 50-60 miles running and climbing 3-6 times a week depending on time. She works as an EMT and doing post-baccalaureate classes in order to apply to Physicians Assistant school.
After a hip injury sidelined me from track and road racing for almost 3 years, she found trail running helped in the recovery process. On the episode, she talks about how she made fun of OCR runners 1 month before I tried it. A friend opened her eyes to the competitive side of OCR and convinced me to try it out.
Elated to be healthy and back in competition mode, she went from not being able to run more than 3 miles in March last year (due to hip injury) to racing all summer. She is still building back from my running hiatus, figuring this sport out and enjoying racing again, but as a highly competitive person she does have her sights set on winning Spartan World Championships and OCR World Championships this year.
She hopes to inspire people to get outside, advocate for environmental stewardship and help others improve their health through exercise and nutrition.
Find Nicole:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.mericle
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/Nickeldm
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Nickeldm
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