Challenging landscape
I doubt you’ll find a more distinctive front yard in the Falcon area than Pam Rushing’s.
Rushing is a personal trainer, and her front yard is an obstacle course. There’s a cargo net to climb and massive tires to pull. There’s a jungle gym, ropes, balance beam, A-frame and more.
Rushing began her unique landscaping after she and her husband ran the obstacle-filled Spartan Race at Fort Carson four years ago and fell in love with the challenge.
“We had some spare wood in our backyard from a barn we had torn down so we started building obstacles based on the obstacles from the race,” she said. Since the race’s challenges change each year, Rushing’s course is always a work in progress as she adds or subs out obstacles.
She incorporates the obstacles into her personal training with clients; her PCR Fitness also recently resumed beginner and advanced OCR (obstacle course racing) Bootcamp on Saturdays after a break for winter.
“It’s just gotten so popular,” Rushing said of obstacle course racing, with the Spartan Race, Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash and others drawing thousands of competitors. “And it’s still catching on.”
Rushing has had as many as 40 people at her boot camps.
“I have a lot of people who come from the Denver area,” she said. “I don’t think there’s an obstacle course quite like ours anywhere close.”
She ticks off various benefits of obstacle racing: strength, endurance, general fitness.
“It can be a fun thing for people, and it can be a very serious thing for those wanting to be competitive,” she said.
“This place is no joke!” says a review on PCR Fitness’ Facebook page.
“I feel like I am in shape, but this is a different kind of in shape.”
The training builds not only muscles but teamwork.
“I like watching the camaraderie on the course more than anything – people helping each other, people encouraging each other,” Rushing said. “That’s the coolest thing to watch.”
Of course, the risk of injury – bruises, cuts, sprains and worse – is greater than in a basic foot race. Participants in races such as the Spartan must sign liability waivers acknowledging “the risk of injury and/or death.”
“All of our training involves safety measures,” Rushing said. “The techniques that we teach out here are for people to do well on the obstacles but also to keep them safe.” Children younger than 12 aren’t allowed on the course because of the liability.
Anytime she feels like a challenge, Rushing can wander out to her obstacle-filled yard. She has no favorite part of the course, she said.
“I like them all. There are some that test your legs, some your upper body,” she said.
It’s a long way from her previous job. Rushing, 53, worked in financial aid for 15 years, most recently at Colorado Technical University, where she managed a team of financial aid advisers.
When she and the others were laid off as the result of a restructuring, “I just decided I wanted to do something else. I’ve always been physical. … I didn’t want to go sit behind a desk again.”
The four years since then have been a blast, she said.
“I love helping people so I just changed from helping people one way to another way,” she said.
Ralph Mills maneuvers swinging bars and ropes during a bootcamp on Saturday, April 2, 2016. Personal trainer Pam Rushing, whose front yard is filled with obstacles, holds a bootcamp every Saturday for obstacle course race training. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette.
Stephanie Croach quickly climbs down wooden beams during a bootcamp on Saturday, April 2, 2016. Personal trainer Pam Rushing, whose front yard is filled with obstacles, holds a bootcamp every Saturday for obstacle course race training. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette.
Bill Radford August 8, 2013. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
Stephanie Croach jumps over a wall during a bootcamp on Saturday, April 2, 2016. Personal trainer Pam Rushing, whose front yard is filled with obstacles, holds a bootcamp every Saturday for obstacle course race training. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette.
Heather Reis and Ralph Mills do squats while lifting a weighted bucket during a bootcamp on Saturday, April 2, 2016. Personal trainer Pam Rushing, whose front yard is filled with obstacles, holds a bootcamp every Saturday for obstacle course race training. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette.
Stephanie Croach yanks a tire toward her during a bootcamp on Saturday, April 2, 2016. Personal trainer Pam Rushing, whose front yard is filled with obstacles, holds a bootcamp every Saturday for obstacle course race training. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette.
Pam Rushing’s front yard is a constantly evolving obstacle course. Bill Radford, The Gazette