Insane Inflatable 5K Recap

So, just in case you missed my DOUBLE RACE DAY post, I had accidentally signed myself up for two races on this past Saturday (sure, some of my friends do this on purpose, but this was a complete oversight by me). Originally Ryan and I were registered for the 9am wave for the Insane Inflatable 5K in Vista, but once I realized I had the San Diego Mermaid Series Half Marathon at 7am down in Mission Bay (which I didn't realize until Thursday) I frantically switched our start time to 11:30am.

Flat Carlee included: Brooks PureConnect 2 (this link is for the 3's, but I have the older model), Rainbow Ruffle Sparkle Athletic Skirt, Black SparklySoulInc Headband, Jailbreak PRO Compression Marathon socks, All Black Everything RUN ALL DAY Shirt from PavementRunner, Garmin Forerunner 110, and Black Handful sports bra.
**I HAVE TO SAY, I GOT SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY COMPLIMENTS ON MY SKIRT,
EVEN IF A FEW PEOPLE CALLED IT A TUTU ;).**

After getting home from my morning race (which technically was supposed to be a training run for the Phoenix Marathon that I just couldn't reign in the excitement on so ran faster than I should have), I had about a half an hour to sit down, change outfits, walk the pup, and head over for race #2 of the day. Thankfully this one was pretty close to the house (it was actually across the street from our church) and all about the hoopla.

I had originally heard about this race on the radio. The blurb made it sound insanely fun and a bit challenging. I reached out to the race organizers and was actually given a free entry (how awesome - but don't worry, the opinions in this recap are still 100% mine and COMPLETELY HONEST). We did pay for Ryan's entry (so it was like we got both of our entries at half the price) since he wasn't going to let me have all the fun without him.

Like I mentioned, we switched our wave time from 9am to 11:30am so that I would have enough time to make it to the race. We both had to pay a $5.50 transfer fee to make this adjustment (but that is better than not being able to do the race at all since I was just crossing the finish line of the San Diego Mermaid Series Half Marathon around 9am), but the process was super easy. You just had to log in, select the wave you now wanted, and put in your credit card number - easy peasy.

We weren't sure how busy it would be, so we gave ourselves a little extra time and got to the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum around 10:50am. You do your packet pick-up on race day, so I wanted to give us some wiggle room to pick up our bibs, goodies, and do bag-check before having to make it to the starting line. We walked right on up, showed a volunteer our IDs, got bibs, and gave our bag to the gear check folks (we didn't feel like walking back to the car, so needed somewhere to store our IDs, keys, and participant shirts {although we didn't get those until after we finished}).

Where the race was being held

Got our bibs, now we are ready to go!

Ryan and I walked around a bit, saw some of the obstacles in the distance, and then made our way over to the Starting Line. A few minutes before 11:30am they let us in the little starting area. They were checking out wrist bands to make sure we were in the right wave (which was nice seeing as we had to pay to switch waves, I am glad it was actually being monitored). The DJ was a little creepy (making a comment about how he wouldn't mind a girl helping him from behind when they were sending us off), but before we knew it we were on our way.

They had an inflatable sign near the start

The inflatables started off right away, as the starting line was actually climbing up some "stairs" and then "sliding" down. I put sliding in quotes because this slide was not really slidable... We all pretty much stuck on it... And then had to scoot or run down it... I was slightly worried that if this is how the entire race would go I would walk away with some pretty bad booty burn, but thankfully this was the only slide with this issue.

The first obstacle was called LET'S GO

There were a TON of obstacles on the course - I think 11 in total. Ryan and I decided our game plan would be to run the distance between the obstacles and then he would go through them first so he could try and get a couple pictures of me going through them. At past obstacle course runs we've done there are always HUGE lines at the obstacles, so we were expecting to have to wait for them, but luckily for us we got right on (or through) all of them. It didn't seem there were too many people on the course, at least while we were there, so we didn't really have to fight any crowds.

Running through MATTRESS RUN
(Ryan ran them like tires, but I double stepped in each hole
since my legs weren't really long enough to do it his way)

Going through BIG BALLS
(This one was fun because you got to throw/ roll/ push the balls
around and into other people)

Making my way through WRECKING BALLS
(I had to have cat like reflexes to duck out of the way of
one of the balls Ryan sent flying towards my head)

Ryan before going on S.O.S.

Climbing up in S.O.S.
(This was one you had to take your shoes off on)

Coming down the slide in S.O.S.
(At least the slides were shaded so they weren't too hot
on your exposed skin)

I almost ran into Ryan at the bottom of S.O.S.

Running through LEVELS

Finishing up on LEVELS

Ryan going up PURE MISERY

Ryan going down the back side of PURE MISERY

Going up BUMPIN' BUMPIN'

Making my way through TANGLED UP

Running on the JUMP AROUND
(This was one of our least favorite obstacles.)

Coming off the JUMP AROUND
(At least I didn't break an ankle like I was worried about)

We had a great time on the course. We had never been to the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum before, so not only were we enjoying the inflatables and running, but we were also checking out some of the machinery on the property.

Ryan really liked this Adventure Mobile ;)

Although the advertisement made it seem like the course would be challenging, I would have to say it was extremely doable. Ryan and I were actually saying that adding water or mud may make some of the inflatables a little more challenging (and maybe a little more fun). I don't want this to sound bad, seeing as I totally enjoyed myself, but I think I would explain it more as a bounce house party for adults with some running thrown in. It is definitely not as intense as say a Tough Mudder or Gladiator Run, but it it a fun way to get folks participating in races that don't normally run. ANYTHING TO MAKE RUNNING FUN I AM ALL FOR!

The last obstacle was definitely SUPER (although I wish the middle section of the slide was more of a ramp than a way to slow you down...). It was the tallest and Ryan happened to get an AWESOME picture of me before I started my trek up.

Ryan before he made his way up VERTIGO!

Jumping for joy!

This race was different than the fun runs we have done in the past because we actually got MEDALS! Not only did we get bling, but they also gave our participant shirt right as we finished (I know some races give out the shirts at the end because they are "finisher" shirts, but I wouldn't necessarily consider that the reason here... This was really just a plain cotton tee with a graphic on it).

We asked the volunteer handing out medals to
take a quick finisher picture for us

WE DID IT!

Tastes like chicken... Well, tofu chick'en ;)

The course only had one water stop on it, which is decent for the distance, but it was really heating up (another reason why I prefer to do the earliest wave of the day), so having another aid station may have been nice (although, I would have to say, we may have been some of the only ones on the course that were actually running the whole time, so maybe if you weren't running you wouldn't need the extra water).

It was pretty toasty out by the time we finished

It seemed like the only "refreshments" at the end were a banana and another tiny cup of water. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting a big buffet or anything like that (and even if there was one, I probably wouldn't have partaken in the festivities), but for the price of the registration I was expecting a protein bar or something.

Ryan and I both had a great time. Some things that we would suggest for future races - have the course be closer to an actual 5K distance (we finished in under 2.5 miles), have signs at the obstacles you have to remove your shoes on (the website said you could wear your shoes on the inflatables, but we had to take them off for the slides so giving folks the heads up would be nice rather than hoping a volunteer was able to tell everyone), and lower the cost of registration (I totally understand with the logistics and the inflatables there is a large cost, but $60 per person is pretty steep for a 5K).

It's all about the fun during these runs!

All-in-all, we had a ton of fun! I'm not sure we would do it again if the cost stays the same (with getting a free entry for myself, it was technically like $35 for each of us, but had we paid for both I think $130ish for the pair of us would have priced us out of the race), but it was definitely an adventure!

Do you enjoy obstacle course races?