1. COURSE- Every inch of the 9 miles covered in their longer race seemed riddled with an obstacle, supposedly 51 in total- unheard of! It bothers me when races jack up their obstacle count with lots of small stops and simple climbs or crawls to just inflate stats. That was NOT the case here, as almost every one was a legit challenge, with some that could even take several minutes to complete (or fail!). There are almost too many to name and describe, but there was basically no aspect missed- heavy carries, running, swimming, climbing, crawling, vertical, horizontal- you name it. Plus, easily the muddiest course I have EVER done (and the Mudman naturally favors that part). In fact, some of the more simple tasks were made nearly impossible due to the amount of slippery mud. Walls, balance beams, and ropes caked in the slimy muck tested your balance and grip strength well more than if they were clean and dry. Such a great mix of speeds to the race, as pace slowed on rolling motocross hills, then fast on some of the flat and dry parts, then again slowing for a swim or two. As fatigued as I was, and this was also after running another 5k OCR hours before, I was excited all along the race getting to do more and more of their unique and creative obstacles, and not just go through the motions of an extended trail run that too often is in style. I'm just going to say now that this was perhaps the best course I've done this year, and look forward to what they are announcing is even bigger and better things to come. GRADE = A
2. FESTIVAL- If you read my previous Report on the NJ Warrior Dash from the same morning, then you know why I was hours later than originally planned on getting to BattleFrog. I want to mention, on the heels of that fact, that the entire staff here was amazing and considerate of my situation (which I think I wasn't the only one WD screwed things up for). While I missed the last 15k heat, they had no problem and even encouraged me to still go run at my leisure or even join their volunteer and staff wave in the afternoon. I've seen other races literally shut down shop after the last gun goes off, but BattleFrog's entire course and festival (including music and vendors) were still alive for hours after. Some of the crowd had dispersed, of course, following the excitement of their loaded Elite race in the morning, but that didn't stop every one I saw that afternoon from keeping the same great upbeat attitude. Loved that- even if someone wasn't running for time or awards, they were still given the same experience (during the race and after) as the stars who were on the podium earlier. GRADE = A
3. SWAG- I came away with more Kill Cliff cans than I know what to do with (don't worry- I'm still a VPX guy), but that may have been my luck of being one of the last to still be in vendor village that afternoon. As for the real souvenirs... shirts were what you see here, nothing mindblowing; but the medals are super nice and heavy with a logo that for some reason I think is one of the most badass in OCR. They also had a merchandise tent with tons of other higher end apparel and branded accessories, which maybe at my next BattleFrog I'll look to pick up their stickers or a wristband. Definitely a race worth repping if you ask me. GRADE = A
OVERALL GRADE = A
