My 2013 race season started on January 26. I will be doing 14 races in 13 weeks. Hopefully, by the end of that time, I will be back in shape. I cannot believe how ridiculously out of shape I got during my ankle injury hiatus!
Here's the list of scheduled races:
January 26 - Scavenger Dash in Phoenix (After 3 hours of racing in non-stop rain, we finished FIRST and tied for the costume contest win!)
Feb 2/3 - no races, had to work on the weekend. Boo.
February 9 - Spartan Race (Our goal was to finish, and we did! We only had to do burpees at the spear throw.)
February 16 - Glow Rush Scavenger Hunt in Phoenix (We finished second in the shortest race ever - it only took us 31 minutes)
February 23 - Great Urban Race in Tempe
February 24 - Tough Mudder
March 2 - Retro Run 5K with Frankie and Georgie!
March 2 - CitySolve Urban Race in Phoenix
March 9 - Survivor Mud Run
March 10 - Urban Bike Adventure in Phoenix
March 16 - CityScape Adventure in Scottsdale
March 23 - Scavenger Ride in Phoenix. This is the same day as Urban Dare. Bummer.
March 23 - Neon Run
March 30 - nothing scheduled, going camping for a wedding
April 6 - Nothing scheduled - I'm open to suggestions if anyone is planning on signing up for something!
April 13 - Firefly Run. I've got to start working on a costume so I can defend my title!
April 20 - Cahoots Prison Break
What's missing? Challenge Nation - NO WAY! Urban Beer Hunt - not worth repeating, Toro Loco Challenge - I'm all signed up and the company has disappeared, my money with them. Bastards.
During the summer I'll do a few adventure races, hopefully, and Part 2 of the 2013 race season will start in September. Part 2 already includes a triathlon, Gilmore Adventure Race and Rugged Maniac.
Showing posts with label Obstacle Racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obstacle Racing. Show all posts
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Monday, June 11, 2012
Race Reviews, Part II
More reviews from this spring's mud/obstacle runs.
Cahoots Duo Challenge, April 28, Buckeye AZ
What makes it different: The race is for teams of two. From their website: "All Cahoots courses have been specifically and creatively designed to prove the resolve and test the limits of even the toughest of twosomes. You'll carry, push, pull and roll one another over and through a variety of perils and hazards. You'll swing over energy sapping bogs on the Siamese Trapese, build precarious bridges, and scale 10' walls."
Did it live up to its marketing: Not really. There were only a few obstacles that required a teammate. Most of the obstacles were the usual obstacles you get at these races. This is a great concept, but they could use a little work on the teamwork aspect.
The course: Overall it was good. Fairly well marked, lots of hills incorporated as challenges, but way too short. Only about 2 miles. The website says the course will be 3-4 miles.
Obstacles: The usual - cargo nets, walls. The unusual - a zipline and a trapeze swing. The bad - two of the duo obstacles weren't that great. Irene and I were too short as a team to complete them. The good - a fun waterslide, and I loved the wall!
Organization/Logistics: Great! Wonderful volunteers. Free parking. Race started on time. Best food ever after the race!!
Fun Factor: Irene was my partner. We had a good time, especially since we rocked the wall! Most teams had to have help from other teams to get over it, but we did it on our own. I also really like the smaller races because we can go back afterward and re-do the obstacles and get pictures. It helped that we purchased with a Groupon so we didn't feel cheated by the extra short race.
Would I do it again? If the price is right, yes. Cahoots is one of the more expensive races. We originally weren't going to do it because of the cost, until the Groupon came out. I think they've got a lot of things going for them, including great organizational skills which you cannot do without. I'd like to give them another try. And, I'd do it again just to get another chance to eat that bacon cheeseburger topped with pulled pork! Yummy!
Kiwi Dash, May 5, Phoenix AZ
What makes it different: No niche, just a standard mud run.
Did it live up to its marketing: Yes. It was billed as a 5K full of obstacles with a fun after-party. It was, in fact, a 5K full of obstacles and the after-party was a blues and BBQ festival that you got free admission.
The course: Pretty good. It started out in a mud pit, went through Fear Farm, the Halloween scare park, around the Westside Sports Complex. It's a fairly small area and they utilized it well.
Obstacles: The usual - mud pits, hay bales. The unusual - pushing barrels. The bad - those stupid tires! And wading through an irrigation ditch that was actually very fun but you could only go as fast (i.e. very slow) as the people in front of you. The good - awesome mud (not at all sandy), a fun half-pipe to run up, unique use of storage containers.
Organization/Logistics: Pretty good. The start line was weird. There weren't heats as advertised. We all just lined up and they let a few people through every few seconds. I was not impressed with this and thought the whole race would suck, but it didn't. A lot of people were pissed off by various things - warm water at the water station, no t-shirts, limited access to the hose to rinse off afterward. I didn't mind any of those issues. I thought it was a good event for first-time event directors. They had a lot of volunteers on the course which was good.
Fun Factor: Mid to high. I did the race with Irene. We enjoyed the unusual obstacles and we enjoyed the BBQ afterwards. This was another smaller race that you could walk through again after your heat. The race was on the same day as the Dirty Six. For my money, the Kiwi was much better!
Would I do it again? Sure. They are in the works of planning a zombie run. If my schedule works, I'll give it a go.
5K Foam Fest, May 19, Scottsdale AZ
What makes it different: Foam, presumably. It's billed as a 5K filled with foam and mud and obstacles. Fun games before and after including "foam pit, pull-up bar, mud, limbo, minute-to-win-it games, greased pole, etc."
Did it live up to its marketing: No. No! NO! It wasn't a 5K and it wasn't foamy. There were NO games before or after. Crappy.
The course: The 5K was only 2.1 miles long. Seriously. WTF? If "5K" is in the name of your event, how do you justify giving us a 2 mile course? Ridiculous. I went in the first wave and finished in 25 minutes. My 5K time is 29:30. I knew something was wrong so I turned around and walked the course backwards to see where I might have missed a turn. No missed turn. I found the race director and asked him how long the course was. He said just about 3 miles. I challenged that telling him that I finished in 25 minutes. He said, "well maybe you are just fast." Ugh.
Obstacles: They were pretty lame. There were no volunteers at most of them. They had some zig-zag balance beams that people didn't know were for balancing, they just ran through the zig zag. A sign, at least, would have been helpful. The foam wasn't working very well at the beginning (I went in the first heat) and then I heard it wasn't working at all later. There was a dry white tarp that I assume was supposed to be a slip-n-slide but there was no water anywhere. There was no water to drink at the water station when I went through and I hear no water later either. There was a rickety cargo net and some walls and some inflatables that were supposed to be foamy, but weren't. The foam at the Irvine Lake Mud Run was higher than my head, I had to go through it backwards to not inhale it. The foam at the Foam Fest was no higher than my ankles.
Organization/Logistics: Terrible. Volunteers didn't know much. The registration lines were horrible and slow. The course was too short. They weren't completely ready for the first groups. The lack of water made them shut down early. It was so bad that at first they stopped allowing comments on their facebook page, then they took their facebook page down completely. It's still gone.
Fun Factor: There was one fun obstacle where you ran across some exercise balls mounted in a big inflatable. Not fun enough to redeem the awfulness of this event, though.
Would I do it again? Good God, no. I hope they are smart enough not to come back to Phoenix.
I have no pictures and I don't mind a bit.
Cahoots Duo Challenge, April 28, Buckeye AZ
What makes it different: The race is for teams of two. From their website: "All Cahoots courses have been specifically and creatively designed to prove the resolve and test the limits of even the toughest of twosomes. You'll carry, push, pull and roll one another over and through a variety of perils and hazards. You'll swing over energy sapping bogs on the Siamese Trapese, build precarious bridges, and scale 10' walls."
Did it live up to its marketing: Not really. There were only a few obstacles that required a teammate. Most of the obstacles were the usual obstacles you get at these races. This is a great concept, but they could use a little work on the teamwork aspect.
Obstacles: The usual - cargo nets, walls. The unusual - a zipline and a trapeze swing. The bad - two of the duo obstacles weren't that great. Irene and I were too short as a team to complete them. The good - a fun waterslide, and I loved the wall!
Organization/Logistics: Great! Wonderful volunteers. Free parking. Race started on time. Best food ever after the race!!
Fun Factor: Irene was my partner. We had a good time, especially since we rocked the wall! Most teams had to have help from other teams to get over it, but we did it on our own. I also really like the smaller races because we can go back afterward and re-do the obstacles and get pictures. It helped that we purchased with a Groupon so we didn't feel cheated by the extra short race.
Would I do it again? If the price is right, yes. Cahoots is one of the more expensive races. We originally weren't going to do it because of the cost, until the Groupon came out. I think they've got a lot of things going for them, including great organizational skills which you cannot do without. I'd like to give them another try. And, I'd do it again just to get another chance to eat that bacon cheeseburger topped with pulled pork! Yummy!
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| Ziplining |
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| Crazy water slide - Irene started facing forward and on the other side of me! |
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| Siamese Trapeze - this was fun! |
Kiwi Dash, May 5, Phoenix AZ
What makes it different: No niche, just a standard mud run.
Did it live up to its marketing: Yes. It was billed as a 5K full of obstacles with a fun after-party. It was, in fact, a 5K full of obstacles and the after-party was a blues and BBQ festival that you got free admission.
The course: Pretty good. It started out in a mud pit, went through Fear Farm, the Halloween scare park, around the Westside Sports Complex. It's a fairly small area and they utilized it well.
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| Muddy water pit |
Organization/Logistics: Pretty good. The start line was weird. There weren't heats as advertised. We all just lined up and they let a few people through every few seconds. I was not impressed with this and thought the whole race would suck, but it didn't. A lot of people were pissed off by various things - warm water at the water station, no t-shirts, limited access to the hose to rinse off afterward. I didn't mind any of those issues. I thought it was a good event for first-time event directors. They had a lot of volunteers on the course which was good.
Fun Factor: Mid to high. I did the race with Irene. We enjoyed the unusual obstacles and we enjoyed the BBQ afterwards. This was another smaller race that you could walk through again after your heat. The race was on the same day as the Dirty Six. For my money, the Kiwi was much better!
Would I do it again? Sure. They are in the works of planning a zombie run. If my schedule works, I'll give it a go.
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| You had to push these barrels out and back. |
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| The half pipe was fun. |
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| We are never too dirty to eat BBQ |
What makes it different: Foam, presumably. It's billed as a 5K filled with foam and mud and obstacles. Fun games before and after including "foam pit, pull-up bar, mud, limbo, minute-to-win-it games, greased pole, etc."
Did it live up to its marketing: No. No! NO! It wasn't a 5K and it wasn't foamy. There were NO games before or after. Crappy.
Obstacles: They were pretty lame. There were no volunteers at most of them. They had some zig-zag balance beams that people didn't know were for balancing, they just ran through the zig zag. A sign, at least, would have been helpful. The foam wasn't working very well at the beginning (I went in the first heat) and then I heard it wasn't working at all later. There was a dry white tarp that I assume was supposed to be a slip-n-slide but there was no water anywhere. There was no water to drink at the water station when I went through and I hear no water later either. There was a rickety cargo net and some walls and some inflatables that were supposed to be foamy, but weren't. The foam at the Irvine Lake Mud Run was higher than my head, I had to go through it backwards to not inhale it. The foam at the Foam Fest was no higher than my ankles.
Organization/Logistics: Terrible. Volunteers didn't know much. The registration lines were horrible and slow. The course was too short. They weren't completely ready for the first groups. The lack of water made them shut down early. It was so bad that at first they stopped allowing comments on their facebook page, then they took their facebook page down completely. It's still gone.
Fun Factor: There was one fun obstacle where you ran across some exercise balls mounted in a big inflatable. Not fun enough to redeem the awfulness of this event, though.
Would I do it again? Good God, no. I hope they are smart enough not to come back to Phoenix.
I have no pictures and I don't mind a bit.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Race Reviews, Part I
I've been busy this spring with a bunch of new mud/obstacle races. They were all in the 5K variety. Warrior Dash and Rugged Maniac are the big daddies in this arena. I did those last season and reviewed them here. This post starts my reviews of this season's races.
Irvine Lake Mud Run, March 28, Irvine CA
What makes it different: No niche, just a standard mud run.
Did it live up to its marketing: They promised you'd get wet and muddy. We did, so yes, it was exactly what they were selling.
The course: Good. Pretty surroundings, obstacles spread out at good intervals, made use of natural obstacles with the mud and some hills.
Obstacles: The usual - little walls, little mud puddles. The unusual - a huge tube/tunnel/slide into a water pit. The bad - Many of the obstacles were lame. The wait for the tube/tunnel/slide was way too long. We ended up skipping it because it was too cold standing still when you were wet. The good - FOAM! The foam wall was higher than my head! Crazy mud on the edge of the lake that was springy and dense and weird and fun. The obstacles for the first 2/3 of the race were rather boring. The end of the course had a bunch of mud pits one after the other so that was fun.
Organization/Logistics: OK. This wasn't the kind of run where you could go for time, too many people in too small a space. It was a really big race and with the exception of the backup at the tunnel/slide, everything went as smoothly as could be expected with such a crowd.
Fun Factor: Mediocre. The foam was great. Running with my friend Nicole was super-awesome. This was her first race and a good one to start out on. The obstacles weren't too hard, maybe even too easy. We went straight from this race to the Great Urban Race Santa Monica, so overall a really fun day.
Would I do it again? Probably not. One, it's in California. Two, it was fun once but nothing special enough to do again, unless I was in town and it was free.
Here is a slide show of picture from the whole day:
Toro Loco Challenge, April 7, Eloy AZ
What makes it different: Two courses, one is harder and one is easier. Dogs and kids welcome on the easier course. Also, they allowed you to pay for one course and then go do the second course free!
Did it live up to its marketing: Well, dogs were allowed but there weren't two different courses and as far as I could tell there were not easy/hard versions of the obstacles.
Obstacles: The usual - hay bales and tires. The unusual - swinging ropes to cross. The bad - a dry tarp to crawl under. The good - an awesome zip line, a huge mud hill to climb and the the best mud pit in Arizona.
The course: Very poorly marked, there was no way to know where to go next. It included lots of
unnecessary running to make the course longer. Volunteers didn't know anything. No difference between the easy course and the hard course that we could see. No water on the course for earlier waves, one water stop for our later wave.
Organization/Logistics: Terrible. There was no one at the start line for our wave. We didn't even know which way to run - there were obstacles in three different directions. Apparently the bibs didn't arrive in time, the water stations weren't set up in time, some of the obstacles weren't complete in time. It was so bad that they turned off comments on their facebook page and erased all the bad things people were saying.
Fun Factor: I have to say, it was SOOOO FUN! After we got over the major annoyances of the course not being marked and not knowing what we were supposed to be doing, we had a blast. Our plan was to do the hard course first then go back with Frankie and the Fabig kids and do the easy course. We made up our own route and did most of the obstacles on the first run through. We skipped two that were far away after finding out they were more hay bales. The fun obstacles with the water and the mud were at the end, so we took the dog and the kids and did the race backwards the second time. Frankie has so much fun!
Would I do it again? Absolutely! They are going to try it again on September 15th and I'm in! I'm going to coerce Pat or another dog-less friend to go so Georgie can come too. They are currently offering half off team registrations, so the price is right.
The whole album with captions can be viewed by clicking here. Below are just a few of the pictures:
Irvine Lake Mud Run, March 28, Irvine CA
What makes it different: No niche, just a standard mud run.
Did it live up to its marketing: They promised you'd get wet and muddy. We did, so yes, it was exactly what they were selling.
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| Still foamy well after the foam |
Obstacles: The usual - little walls, little mud puddles. The unusual - a huge tube/tunnel/slide into a water pit. The bad - Many of the obstacles were lame. The wait for the tube/tunnel/slide was way too long. We ended up skipping it because it was too cold standing still when you were wet. The good - FOAM! The foam wall was higher than my head! Crazy mud on the edge of the lake that was springy and dense and weird and fun. The obstacles for the first 2/3 of the race were rather boring. The end of the course had a bunch of mud pits one after the other so that was fun.
Organization/Logistics: OK. This wasn't the kind of run where you could go for time, too many people in too small a space. It was a really big race and with the exception of the backup at the tunnel/slide, everything went as smoothly as could be expected with such a crowd.
Fun Factor: Mediocre. The foam was great. Running with my friend Nicole was super-awesome. This was her first race and a good one to start out on. The obstacles weren't too hard, maybe even too easy. We went straight from this race to the Great Urban Race Santa Monica, so overall a really fun day.
Would I do it again? Probably not. One, it's in California. Two, it was fun once but nothing special enough to do again, unless I was in town and it was free.
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| Mud pit |
Toro Loco Challenge, April 7, Eloy AZ
What makes it different: Two courses, one is harder and one is easier. Dogs and kids welcome on the easier course. Also, they allowed you to pay for one course and then go do the second course free!
Did it live up to its marketing: Well, dogs were allowed but there weren't two different courses and as far as I could tell there were not easy/hard versions of the obstacles.
Obstacles: The usual - hay bales and tires. The unusual - swinging ropes to cross. The bad - a dry tarp to crawl under. The good - an awesome zip line, a huge mud hill to climb and the the best mud pit in Arizona.
The course: Very poorly marked, there was no way to know where to go next. It included lots of
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| We got super-muddy! |
Organization/Logistics: Terrible. There was no one at the start line for our wave. We didn't even know which way to run - there were obstacles in three different directions. Apparently the bibs didn't arrive in time, the water stations weren't set up in time, some of the obstacles weren't complete in time. It was so bad that they turned off comments on their facebook page and erased all the bad things people were saying.
Fun Factor: I have to say, it was SOOOO FUN! After we got over the major annoyances of the course not being marked and not knowing what we were supposed to be doing, we had a blast. Our plan was to do the hard course first then go back with Frankie and the Fabig kids and do the easy course. We made up our own route and did most of the obstacles on the first run through. We skipped two that were far away after finding out they were more hay bales. The fun obstacles with the water and the mud were at the end, so we took the dog and the kids and did the race backwards the second time. Frankie has so much fun!
Would I do it again? Absolutely! They are going to try it again on September 15th and I'm in! I'm going to coerce Pat or another dog-less friend to go so Georgie can come too. They are currently offering half off team registrations, so the price is right.
The whole album with captions can be viewed by clicking here. Below are just a few of the pictures:
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| Frankie loved the mud! |
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| He REALLY loved the mud mountain! |
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| Muddy puppy! |
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| Frankie thought it was fun to jump over the irrigation ditch. |
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| Swinging ropes - this was my favorite! |
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| Lots of slippery mud. |
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| Zipline |
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| The zipline ended in a big water pit. |
Thursday, December 8, 2011
A Busy Day, Part 2
After the AZ Urban Race, I went back home for a few minutes, then it was off to the Rugged Maniac. Jamie agreed to go with me and take race photos if I bought him ChickFilA. That was a pretty good deal.
The Rugged Maniac is an obstacle/mud run, a lot like the Warrior Dash. It was awesome!
Rugged Maniac vs. Warrior Dash
I think the Rugged Maniac was WAY better than the Warrior Dash. I admit that this may not be a fair comparison as I had a 10:00 am heat in the Warrior Dash with 8 zillion other people and a 1:30 heat in the Rugged Maniac with only 24 other people. Really! My heat had only 25 people! I basically had the entire course and all the obstacles to myself, which was awesome! At the Warrior Dash we had to wait for obstacles and had to try to get over walls without getting kicked, which wasn't so awesome. I thought the Warrior Dash course and obstacles were kind of boring. The Rugged Maniac course was full of hills, some that required ropes to get up, and the obstacles were cooler. The post-race party area of the Warrior Dash location (at a music venue outside of town) was better because it was grass versus a gravel lot at Rugged Maniac (at a motocross venue), but I don't like to hang out and party after a race so that is of no importance to me. Spectators at Rugged Maniac had full access to the course which they did not have at Warrior Dash. I don't know how other cities compare, but in Arizona, my money goes to Rugged Maniac!
Here is the race, in pictures:
Waiting for the start with my very few fellow racers.
That guy in the orange tripped over the caution tape when the gun sounded. He didn't even lift his feet to try to get over. He just started running. It was pretty funny.
The first part of the race was mostly running.
There were some hills and some rope climbs, too, but mostly running.
The start of the fun stuff with a series of small walls:
Then we had a series of posts to jump and balance on. In the course map online, this was supposed to be surrounded by water so you'd get wet if you fell off. Arizona is too dry for this, I guess. This one was really fun!
A jungle of tires:
The first of the mud pits:
I didn't get very muddy on this one. This was a really cold day and I was putting off getting wet as long as possible. Pretty wussy attitude for a mud run, huh?
Then came the best obstacle of all, the big slide. No avoiding getting wet on this one!
That lip on the end of the slide sent me flying in the air. It was awesome! It was enough to make me go completely under water when I landed.
The slide pool finished with this obstacle:
As a bonus, I found someone's vampire teeth floating in the mud.
Up a really big hill:
Down a really big hill:
Up another really big hill that required ropes to get up:
Over a cargo net:
From the top of the structure, you had to jump off and land on a high jump mat. The guy standing there catches you if you bounce off, like I did. There was another structure next to this one. There was a girl on the top of it who was scared to jump off. She must have been there a long time because she was in a heat ahead of mine. The guy at the bottom was saying "Ok, ready, 1...2...3!" and she'd say "4". It was pretty funny. I wonder if she ever jumped or if she just climbed back down the way she came up.
Water tunnels:
Muddy and wet:
The BIG wall:
I used the edge to climb up:
This was right after the water tunnels so my hands were muddy and wet. On my first attempt to pull myself up, my hands slipped right off the wood. Ouch.
Better prepared the second time, I got up and over:
Final obstacle, the fire jump:
Actually, the final obstacle was the really steep hill up to that finish flag!
Woo hoo! I am a Rugged Maniac!
Thank you, Jamie, for taking these awesome pictures! Maybe I would have liked the Warrior Dash more if I had pictures of it.
The Rugged Maniac is an obstacle/mud run, a lot like the Warrior Dash. It was awesome!
Rugged Maniac vs. Warrior Dash
I think the Rugged Maniac was WAY better than the Warrior Dash. I admit that this may not be a fair comparison as I had a 10:00 am heat in the Warrior Dash with 8 zillion other people and a 1:30 heat in the Rugged Maniac with only 24 other people. Really! My heat had only 25 people! I basically had the entire course and all the obstacles to myself, which was awesome! At the Warrior Dash we had to wait for obstacles and had to try to get over walls without getting kicked, which wasn't so awesome. I thought the Warrior Dash course and obstacles were kind of boring. The Rugged Maniac course was full of hills, some that required ropes to get up, and the obstacles were cooler. The post-race party area of the Warrior Dash location (at a music venue outside of town) was better because it was grass versus a gravel lot at Rugged Maniac (at a motocross venue), but I don't like to hang out and party after a race so that is of no importance to me. Spectators at Rugged Maniac had full access to the course which they did not have at Warrior Dash. I don't know how other cities compare, but in Arizona, my money goes to Rugged Maniac!
Here is the race, in pictures:
Waiting for the start with my very few fellow racers.
That guy in the orange tripped over the caution tape when the gun sounded. He didn't even lift his feet to try to get over. He just started running. It was pretty funny.The first part of the race was mostly running.
There were some hills and some rope climbs, too, but mostly running.The start of the fun stuff with a series of small walls:
Then we had a series of posts to jump and balance on. In the course map online, this was supposed to be surrounded by water so you'd get wet if you fell off. Arizona is too dry for this, I guess. This one was really fun!
A jungle of tires:
The first of the mud pits:
I didn't get very muddy on this one. This was a really cold day and I was putting off getting wet as long as possible. Pretty wussy attitude for a mud run, huh?Then came the best obstacle of all, the big slide. No avoiding getting wet on this one!
That lip on the end of the slide sent me flying in the air. It was awesome! It was enough to make me go completely under water when I landed.The slide pool finished with this obstacle:
As a bonus, I found someone's vampire teeth floating in the mud.Up a really big hill:
Down a really big hill:
Up another really big hill that required ropes to get up:
Over a cargo net:
From the top of the structure, you had to jump off and land on a high jump mat. The guy standing there catches you if you bounce off, like I did. There was another structure next to this one. There was a girl on the top of it who was scared to jump off. She must have been there a long time because she was in a heat ahead of mine. The guy at the bottom was saying "Ok, ready, 1...2...3!" and she'd say "4". It was pretty funny. I wonder if she ever jumped or if she just climbed back down the way she came up.Water tunnels:
Muddy and wet:
The BIG wall:
I used the edge to climb up:
This was right after the water tunnels so my hands were muddy and wet. On my first attempt to pull myself up, my hands slipped right off the wood. Ouch.Better prepared the second time, I got up and over:
Final obstacle, the fire jump:
Actually, the final obstacle was the really steep hill up to that finish flag!Woo hoo! I am a Rugged Maniac!
Thank you, Jamie, for taking these awesome pictures! Maybe I would have liked the Warrior Dash more if I had pictures of it.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
A Busy Day, Part 1
I bought a ticket for the Rugged Maniac with a Groupon. It was only $25 - what a deal! I sent the link to all my friends. I got only one taker! Some people weren't interested, some people were already doing the AZ Urbanathlon that day, and some people just don't like hanging out with me. Then, the one taker canceled his purchase because he remembered he was supposed to do the Urbanathlon. So, no takers. Gr. I guess I was going to be a solo Maniac. Boo.
A few days later, I entered a facebook contest (cuz that's what I do) whose prize was an entry to the Urbanathlon... and I won! I figured I would do that race instead of the Rugged Maniac so I wouldn't have to race alone. By the week of the races, none of the people who were supposed to do this race had signed up. What a bunch of slackers. So, now it looked like I was going to be a solo Urbanathlete. Boo.
Whatever. I am an independent girl. I don't need no stinkin' friends. I decided to do both races by myself! I arranged my heats in the races so that I could do the Urbanathlon at 9:00 am in Scottsdale and the Rugged Maniac in Buckeye at 1:30 pm. For the record, Scottsdale and Buckeye are about 70 miles apart.
The AZ Urbanathlon was a 5K obstacle race put on by Mountainside Fitness. I had very low expectations of them for many reasons. First of all, they put a ton of money into this race. They had commercials, they were partnered with the Diamondbacks and had ads in the stadium. They advertised A LOT. For the money they spent and by being affiliated with a large organization, you would think they would have done a little due diligence with their name, but they didn't. They ended up getting sued by Men's Fitness, who has trademarked the Urbanathlon name. Mountainside Fitness probably has lawyers that could have done a trademark search. Even a quick google search when brainstorming names would have shown that the name was already taken. Stupid. So, they changed the name to AZ Urban Race, and lost $15,000. Second, their website had a whole section about how they were benefitting Make A Wish and how runners could buy pedicab rides to skip the running part of the race and just do the obstacles. . Then, all of a sudden, that section of the website was gone. Huh? Not that I would have done that, but it was unprofessional of them to advertise that part of the event and then take it away with no explanation. Third, the obstacles just looked lame. They were supposed to be things you'd see in a normal urban environment. I'm sure the race's target audience were those people who are too wimpy to take on a Warrior Dash type race, so nothing against them on this one, but for me, it seemed like it would be pretty dull.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the race. It was well organized and the location was great. It was at Salt River Fields where the Diamondbacks play for spring training. I was right that the obstacles weren't very exciting, but we did get to run through the stadium. They used the outfield lawn seating areas as running hills and we got to run up and down the stairs of the stadium. That was pretty cool. This is the only picture I took.
Well, it was actually taken by a stranger in the parking lot after the race. We jumped that type of barricade as our first obstacle.
To show you pictures of the other obstacles, I had to steal the following photos from other blogs on the race.
Cable Spools:
Sandbag climb in a moving truck. This was kind of fun:
Scaffold/barriers:
Wall:
Running in the stadium (this was the coolest part):
Low crawl (this wasn't supposed to be a mud run, but it had rained and it was too cold for the ground to dry, so we got a little muddy anyway):
Stadium Stairs:
The last obstacle was to jump over a pair of cabs and then a pair of cop cars. 
The last two photos are me, taken by the official race photographers. It would cost $18.95 to get one medium sized digital copy without watermarks. No thanks! :)
And that was the AZ Urban Race. I'm glad I did it, but I'm also glad it was free! Even though it was a decent event, I don't think I'd pay full price to do it next year.
A few days later, I entered a facebook contest (cuz that's what I do) whose prize was an entry to the Urbanathlon... and I won! I figured I would do that race instead of the Rugged Maniac so I wouldn't have to race alone. By the week of the races, none of the people who were supposed to do this race had signed up. What a bunch of slackers. So, now it looked like I was going to be a solo Urbanathlete. Boo.
Whatever. I am an independent girl. I don't need no stinkin' friends. I decided to do both races by myself! I arranged my heats in the races so that I could do the Urbanathlon at 9:00 am in Scottsdale and the Rugged Maniac in Buckeye at 1:30 pm. For the record, Scottsdale and Buckeye are about 70 miles apart.
The AZ Urbanathlon was a 5K obstacle race put on by Mountainside Fitness. I had very low expectations of them for many reasons. First of all, they put a ton of money into this race. They had commercials, they were partnered with the Diamondbacks and had ads in the stadium. They advertised A LOT. For the money they spent and by being affiliated with a large organization, you would think they would have done a little due diligence with their name, but they didn't. They ended up getting sued by Men's Fitness, who has trademarked the Urbanathlon name. Mountainside Fitness probably has lawyers that could have done a trademark search. Even a quick google search when brainstorming names would have shown that the name was already taken. Stupid. So, they changed the name to AZ Urban Race, and lost $15,000. Second, their website had a whole section about how they were benefitting Make A Wish and how runners could buy pedicab rides to skip the running part of the race and just do the obstacles. . Then, all of a sudden, that section of the website was gone. Huh? Not that I would have done that, but it was unprofessional of them to advertise that part of the event and then take it away with no explanation. Third, the obstacles just looked lame. They were supposed to be things you'd see in a normal urban environment. I'm sure the race's target audience were those people who are too wimpy to take on a Warrior Dash type race, so nothing against them on this one, but for me, it seemed like it would be pretty dull.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the race. It was well organized and the location was great. It was at Salt River Fields where the Diamondbacks play for spring training. I was right that the obstacles weren't very exciting, but we did get to run through the stadium. They used the outfield lawn seating areas as running hills and we got to run up and down the stairs of the stadium. That was pretty cool. This is the only picture I took.
Well, it was actually taken by a stranger in the parking lot after the race. We jumped that type of barricade as our first obstacle.To show you pictures of the other obstacles, I had to steal the following photos from other blogs on the race.
Cable Spools:
Sandbag climb in a moving truck. This was kind of fun:
Scaffold/barriers:
Wall:
Running in the stadium (this was the coolest part):
Low crawl (this wasn't supposed to be a mud run, but it had rained and it was too cold for the ground to dry, so we got a little muddy anyway):
Stadium Stairs:
The last obstacle was to jump over a pair of cabs and then a pair of cop cars. 
The last two photos are me, taken by the official race photographers. It would cost $18.95 to get one medium sized digital copy without watermarks. No thanks! :)
And that was the AZ Urban Race. I'm glad I did it, but I'm also glad it was free! Even though it was a decent event, I don't think I'd pay full price to do it next year.
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