4 Races in 4 Weeks: Week 1: Review of Hit and Run 5k

The first race in this series is the Hit and Run 5k.  This race is basically a 5k run through the field and parking lot surrounding the Regency Furniture Drive in Waldorf, MD.  There are only 5 bounce obstacles during the course.  I would have liked to see at least double that.

 

I ran this race with a few friends who are new to OCR.  We started the event around 8:45am; they were releasing groups of approximately 30 people every 2-4 minutes.  The smaller groups was to help alleviate long waits at the obstacles which was happening at prior events according to Yelp reviews.  At the obstacles, the wait was about 1-3 minutes at each, but we had to wait about 20 minutes at one of them.  The obstacles themselves were basically custom-made bounces houses.  It was fun to bounce around, but they weren’t really that much more fun than jumping on a trampoline.  On three of the obstacles you had to run along the top level.  If you fell off or were knocked off by balls, then you just stepped down 6” to the next level.  I’m sure it was setup that way for safety reasons, but it just didn’t seem to be much of a thrill.  If this was my first obstacle race, I probably would have enjoyed it more, but after completing numerous other races, these obstacles were pretty weak and too few.  I did not see any soap-foam as they showed in the promotional video.  The running was literally zig-zagging back and forth on the grounds of the stadium field and parking lot.  I do not plan to run this event in the future, but will look into their competitors

If you aren’t looking for a physically demanding race or may be running with younger ones then you may enjoy this one.  They have a 10 to 13-year old parent/kid wave at each race, which I image would be great for younger ones.