Event review: Hero Rush - Irving, TX

It seems I have entered a new stage of obstacle racing: traveling for the sole purpose of doing a race. My impatience got the best of me after Warrior Dash last year, and I found myself looking for more races to do--the sooner, the better. Hero Rush's facebook ads caught my eye, and when I saw there would be a Hero Rush in Texas during 2012, I signed up...nevermind that it was five hours away. It would be summertime, I figured--I could bring the kids and make it a weekend mini-vacation. Yes, there's a 2013 event much closer to home, but I don't do the whole "waiting" thing well--so North Texas it was.

I couldn't be happier with Impatient Me's decision. This past weekend was the best time I've had in awhile--partly due to the race iteself, partly due to the trip out of town (which I wouldn't have gone on had it not been for the race). The five-hour trip from San Antonio to Irving was well worth it. I think the most amazing thing about that is this is Hero Rush's first year as an event, and only their third-ever race. It could have been plagued with glitches, but instead it was one of the best-put-together events I've attended, with only a few minor issues that were/could be easily remedied.

What went right:



Woohoo, a real fire truck!



- This was a super family-friendly race. The theme alone, firefighting, is sure to appeal to kids, and the overall atmosphere was welcoming and focused on fun. Staff members were great with the kids, from the time they checked in (with a lady wearing a tiara) to the time their race started (with an announcer leading them in stretching exercises beforehand). My kids would have been bored out of their minds at any of the 5ks I've done, and I wouldn't have dared let them wander without adult supervision at the Spartan Sprint I did last month (just because of the sheer number of people packed into to the area). At Hero Rush, I had no qualms about letting the kids wander around; I knew where they'd be, could spot them easily enough, and at a race full of firefighters and other service personnel, had no real worries about their safety. Mostly.



...a little less "real" might be a good thing.



- Entertainment and food were readily available and fairly priced. I've never spent the day at a race--I always finish, clean up, and go. This time I had hours between my heat and the kids' race, and even after their race we stuck around until volunteers started packing up. We had over two hours between when I finished and when they started, plus we had time to kill at the beginning before my heat. The display fire truck and Bystander Blast kept them happily occupied during all that time. Water was available for only a dollar, and I got lunch for the four of us, including drinks and sides, for a reasonable $20.

Soaking strangers: hours of fun...

- The obstacles were fun and unique! I've only done a few races but have looked into many others, and nearly everyone does the same thing: mud pits, cargo nets, wall climbs. Hero Rush had so many unique obstacles, and even where they used the same elements as other races (barbed wire, cargo nets) they absolutely had their own spin. I'd rate the difficulty level at about that of Warrior Dash, meaning they're accessible for anyone with a reasonable amount of fitness, and probably not something the Spartan-level elites would be too interested in as a competition (but still way fun to do just for variety and enjoyment). For me, this was perfect--while I am super proud of myself for getting through a Spartan race and plan to go back for more next year, I also wasn't up for nearly killing myself yet again so soon after the last time--I wanted a race to do for fun rather than to see how much I could take without collapsing. Still, as tends to be the case, obstacles I thought would be super hard turned out to be not so bad, and obstacles I thought would be a piece of cake turned out to be much harder than I expected. Which meant that even though this was a "fun" rather than a "push myself to the limit" type of race...

- I had chances to feel like a badass. One obstacle required participants to drag a tire to a set point and then back; another required participants to take TWO tires tethered together over a wall, under another barrier, and up and down an incline. The first I did easily; the second was more of a two-person activity but I was racing alone and attempted that myself as well--successfully! I could have waited for another singleton to show up, but decided to go it alone, and little old non-athletic me picked up two tires and pushed them over a wall. Boom. That's right, I'm tougher than I look! And a zipline?!

- There was water galore: Volunteers at multiple aid stations handed out refreshing COLD water. They did a great job of keeping everyone hydrated and had more water stations than I thought I needed, though I did accept water at each one just to make sure I stayed hydrated enough throughout the race. A good number of the obstacles involved water in some way, too, which definitely felt refreshing considering it was June in Texas.

Yay, a wading pool!

 

- I was happy to discover that the course did go off-roading somewhat. It was held at a large park, basically, so it seemed like the terrain was just going to be back and forth around a large field...but surprise, we wound up going down a dirt trail, through overgrown areas, across rocks, and through a bit of water and mud. I was pleased. :)

What could be improved:
- The lady checking kids in at the registration table was apparently supposed to hand out kids' t-shirts at that time, but didn't know it. I thought they'd get their shirts after running, since that was the plan for adults. It wasn't until after they'd done their race (in the second kids' heat, at 1:30 pm) that I realized that was not the case. By that time, they were out of kids' shirts altogether. They did find one remaining Junior Rusher shirt that my daughter snagged, but my sons then had nothing. The staff made it up to them, though, by letting them each have an adult finisher shirt instead. The small fit my 12-year-old, and my 10-year-old opted to get the same even though it didn't fit so well (rather than getting a ladies' shirt that might have fit, lol). Several staff members helped us out and even offered the boys adult medals to go with their shirts, but the Hero Dinero included with the t-shirts got the kids Gatorade and that was good enough. They said they had a lot of race-day signups and that caused them to run out of shirts; understandable, and I imagine that as they put on more events they'll have a better idea of how many they need to have on hand.

- There was a HUGE line at one of the first obstacles, Basement Entrapped. It was a two-parter; first you climbed up a hose, rope ladder style (or a regular ladder if you couldn't get up the hose), and then you walked down what was basically a tightrope leading from a high platform to the ground. Both parts were slow going, and since I started at the very end of my wave, there was a large crowd amassed by the time I got there. I waited at least 15 minutes, possibly 20, to be able to complete this obstacle, and while I wasn't in this for my time, it was a little disappointing to have my official time be much slower than it would have been without all the waiting--especially since not everyone experienced this much of a delay. Then again, maybe it's motivation to be at the front of the pack next time. Hero Rush did try to alleviate this by breaking the full-capacity wave up into two groups, which did help somewhat. I can only imagine how long the line would have been if all 225 in a wave were released at once, rather than 100 or so 5-10 minute before the rest. Still--maybe placing this later in the race would help with the crowding.

- A few obstacles needed technical support--and I was in the second wave of the day. One of the "tightropes" became too loose on Basement Entrapped, and the Towering Inferno slide had an issue with something coming loose (I don't remember specifically what the volunteer said) so one slide was shut down. They were very safety-conscious, though, and seemed to be able to get them fixed quickly.

- I'd love to see more midway activities in the future. As I said above, Bystander Blast and the display fire truck kept my kids occupied for hours, but it'd be even more fun to see more things to participate in while waiting between waves or after racing--I'm sure there's so many that could be arranged to fit the theme.

All in all this was an outstanding race and one I'll definitely want to run again--as do the kids. My time was depressing; I ran this in an hour and a half, and had fully expected to have a faster time than that. But if you take away the 15 minutes I spent waiting at the one obstacle, that makes about an hour and 15 minutes, which I can live with...for now. Too much of a focus on time and I think I'll be firmly out of Not an Athlete territory, and I don't know if I can handle that yet. :)

Rocking the "drowned rat" look...