Mud Factor Run – 5k

Will never run another mud factor event!!! It is 1) expensive, 2) the obstacles were silly, just a few pieces of plywood an 2×4 nailed together 3) you have to wait about 20 minutes to get through each «obstacle». They charge $ 10.00 per spectator & $ 10.00 per car to park. NEVER AGAIN.

I have participated in many mud and obstacle races. I ran in the Sacramento race yesterday. The race was very unorganized. It started late which is really never ideal. Have some respect for the people paying big bucks to run. We had to wait in line for 15 minutes to go through the mud crawl. You should never have to wait 15 minutes to wait for any obstacle. That is just crazy! The water was not working on the water slide and we had to go down dry. That was not fun and didn’t feel so hot. The post race party was lame, almost nonexistent and there was only one small area to clean up after. Super disappointing. I will not be participating in this race again.

This was a lot of fun. Not as challenging as I thought but still really fun. Only a few upper body drills. A lot of jogging and a decent amount of mud obstacles. My advice is to wear running shoes that you don’t mind ruining. I’m in next year :)

GETTING DOWN N’ DIRTY AND EXERCISING AT THE SAME TIME?! Why not! This was my first time doing any sort of mud run/​obstacle course but not my first time running a 5k. Parking for the event sucked a lot. I believe it was $ 10 to park here. I wish they organized this a bit better.
My heat was at 2:30pm so the weather there was too bad. Not too hot and not too cold. I arrived with Lincy H. at around 2:00pm and we went straight to the registration line. No lines at all so we were registered quick! (Shout out to my Dragonboat team for working/​volunteering at this event! They did an awesome job and were really hardworking and fast). There was a place to check-​in your items as well and that worked out well.
Word of advice:
— Make sure you double or quadruple knot your shoelaces before running in any sort of mud run or else your shoe will be very loose/​come off.
— Don’t wear spandex and expect to get away with no rips near your butt area when sliding down on a rocky/​muddy slope.
— Expect to get a few scraps here and there if you are the type of person to get down n’ dirty.
I think this event could have been organized a bit better just because I had to wait for a while in long lines just to complete an obstacle. I usually like to constantly keep moving and not stop at all: P
Other than that, this was a fun mud run. Got a good workout in and got pretty muddy as well. Photos were taken throughout the course and at the end! You also get a medal at the end of the race too: D I think there was suppose to be beer handed out when you are done, but I never received that.
P. S. If you are looking to do any sort of obstacle runs like this one (or Tough Mudder/​Spartan Race etc.) make sure you check out deals online like Living Social, Groupon, etc.

Had so much fun that we signed up for another in October! One of the better mud runs, more obstacles and fun mud pits spread from beginning to end.

I hate running but I love obstacles… :)
The best thing about the run: Mud
The worst thing about the run: Mud
The lines were fast, the parking cost was ridiculous for what it was but understandable.
My run was at 230PM and I arrived around 200PM. Parking wasn’t a problem at the time so all good and dandy. The hike to the registration line was long but the staff and efficient thanks to some highly fast volunteers. The checkin for your items was good:) The obstacles were fun yet the mud made it kind of dangerous for old men like me ;) I was worried about twisting my ankles for most of the run. Luckly, i wore trail shoes. For the amount obstacles in a 5K, i definitely enjoyed this one.
The only problems were the balancing bars and the wait for people to climb. Maybe have a designated side for fast and one for the slower.
Overall, great event! Definitely recommended.
Pros: Obstacles, Swag at the end, Mud, staff
Cons: Waiting for people, Balancing bars
Stars: 4.25
Notes:
–Register early for cheaper tickets.
–See groupon/​living social deals.

REDEFINING DIRTY
When we signed up for this 5K I joked about training for it. I run from time to time and I like taking the stairs, so I figured that was good enough «training». It’s just a 5K, right?
Holy mud bath from hell! This course was more than a little run around a dirt track. We waded through waist deep mud puddles, climbed obstacles, crawled on our elbows till they bled, stopped for push-​ups and slid down giant, muddy slopes. There was a slide that was my husband’s favorite part but I have terrible experiences on slides and they terrify me.
The Sacramento Raceway was the perfect venue. $ 10 parking and we found a front row spot in the HUGE lot. Our race heat was at 3 in the afternoon and it was a sunny day but not hot weather. Seemed kind of perfect for this sort of event.
Mud Factor told us this was the largest mud run in California. $ 25 tickets found on Amazon Local (and Groupon) seem to have been very popular! They had music playing around the track (that was great!) but I’m pretty sure I heard the Harlem Shake four or five times. Someone needs to work on expanding the playlist. Another place to improve is bag-​check. We gave my purse to be checked and they couldn’t find it at the end of the day. Purses were tied in plastic garbage bags, for security, and it was the end of the day — there weren’t a lot of checked items left. Finally, it was found but it was a terrible feeling to have the kid working first come back and say he couldn’t find it. He also walked at turtle speed, but I can’t hate on volunteers.
Husband and I ran the entire race together and finished hand-​in-​hand, where we both received an awesome medal. When we completed the track, we took a group picture (they post these to their site and sell them) but luckily I had my waterproof camera and snapped a few too! We had several people in our group and Team Mud Dawgs all waited until each person finished.
They had group «showers» pumping muddy water but it helped a lot with clean up. Shoes could be left behind to donate (they clean them up and give them to homeless), but the road out was super rocky. We saw lots of people limping to their cars over the rocks, so we left our shoes in the parking lot. We weren’t the first people to think of this. We stripped to nothing in the parking lot, toweled off as best as we could, put our muddy clothes in plastic bags (I’d wear shorts next time), and that was that.
Definitely will participate in another event like this again. Definitely will add push-​ups to my «training» régime.

What a great way to exercise and have a blast doing it. This was my first 5k and it was fun. I was in a group called the Mud Dawgs and we ran the 3:00 race. They really set the track up great with the first part of the race was mostly running which was a great idea. Then the obstacles started and boy were they hard. Some of them were so hard you had to have someone pushing you up to get over the wooden barrier.
The huge mud puddles were set up perfect and some of them almost went up to waist. I also really liked the huge slip and slide set up near the end o f the course which was so much fun to slide down.
Not only was it a great day of exercise but I also feel like I got my required vitamins from eating all the mud that I got in my mouth.

So much fun! Getting up at 6:30am was a killer but worth it to take part and be among the very first to run this event. Highlights:
Favorite obstacle: The Rope wall and 200 foot slide. I lay in the pool of soapy water at the bottom of the slide screaming like a child ”again! again!!” I would do the whole course 10 times over to have a repeat of that.
Top gross moment: Realizing that it’s not just mud you’re crawling through. Yeah, see those Cows just a few hundred feet away???
Funniest moment: There were so many!
1– Straight out of the gate when people starting freaking out ”eeaaw, omg, disgusting!” at the tiniest little mud puddle. It was a clear indication they were in the wrong place.
2 — Loosing my Nike to a black hole of clay. I contemplated ditching them altogether.
3 — Watching and hearing the male runners scream like a girl while sliding down mud banks on their ass. I think it hurt them more than it did us females.
Just how dirrrty did I get? Completely head to toe covered! 3^rd or 4^th obstacle I ended up jumping into a water pit about 3 foot deep only to loose my footing and got a full mud bath. Fun times.
As for the overall experience I thought it was fairly well planned. Lot’s of different obstacles to climb, run, crawl or wade through and the guy getting everybody pumped for the run was hilarious! Yet I didn’t partake in the Harlem Shake he requested so that it could go on YouTube. Making a fool of myself in public is one thing, having it on the internet is another.
The course had music playing throughout and even a guy playing the drums mid course. One thing I didn’t like so much was the sharp rocks embedded in the mud we had to crawl over. My knee’s, Legs, Elbows and Arms suffered in a big way.
Volunteers were also really good with cheering people on and some even went above and beyond by helping people over obstacles and getting themselves muddy in the process.
There were lot’s of restrooms but even at 8am before the first wave had even gone many of them had no tissue or sanitizer in. eeaaw!
Wash facilities after the race was about a dozen hose pipes out in the open with separate tents for men and women to change. I would have liked to have also had an enclosed shower separated for men and women (like Dirty Girl does). Taking my top off and showering in my sports bra was ok but there was no way in hell I was removing my shorts too! Too many roaming eyes already.
Food was also being served in a nearby tent for those who wished to eat after the event. Food consisted of $ 5 Burgers and Hot Dogs ect while KIND snacks were also on hand giving free samples.
Overall a fun experience to share with Hubby!

This event was a lot of fun. Took place at Sac raceway where parking was $ 10. Kind of weird as some cars got to park inside the gates while others were «forced» to park outside? The event was super busy with tons of people everywhere. They had plenty of port-​o-​potties and only one area to rinse off (not very big or very functional).
To start off they had booths by last name to pick up your registration and stuff before you start. At the start they corral everyone in the start time and try and get you pumped up. It was kinda cool. Then they open the gates and you start running, immediately hit with a mud pit. It was kind of tough at the beginning because it was so crowded, but it spaced out after awhile. The mud was not as «clean» as I thought it’d be as there were some big sharp rocks and a pretty nasty smell (esp. in the first pit). The obstacles were cool with a lot of team work from everyone, which was really cool! Mud pits, ramps, walls, crawling, sliding, etc. There was music playing at the larger obstacles probably because you have to wait in a line to do it obstacle. Our launch time was 11:30 and we finished around 1ish.
A beer was NOT free as advertised which was kind of disappointing, but it was only 4 bucks for a pint so I guess it wasn’t tooooooo bad. The best part of this was running with my friends. It was a experience I won’t ever forget.