Run the Jailbreak obstacle races, mud run, and OCR information, distance, cost, dates, calendar, discounts, obstacles, reviews, and more

Jailbreak '16 was my first foray into OCR. So it only made sense to come back in 2017 to see how I've progressed.

Jailbreak, like most other smaller races, isn't going to have what TM, Savage, or Spartan has. The obstacles were, as one commenter put it, scaled down versions of basic ones from other races. But considering this race is marketed more for fun and not competition, it's acceptable. At least Jailbreak didn't have stupid burpee penalties - maybe Spartan needs to take a lesson on them for that. The obstacle were not any less challenging than, say, Warrior Dash.

There was only 1 water station but then it's a 5k. Anyone marginally hydrated and in shape should be okay. Especially considering it was cool that morning.

The festival area was small. The beer was a local brewery, not a national change, which is refreshing. It's good that they give a small business a chance to put their name out there.

The course is a pasture. However in North Central Texas, it's going to be hard to find any type of elevation change over 100 feet. North Texas is, ecologically, a prairie - flat to rolling grassland. Since I live on ranchland and do my training runs on the exact terrain (including dodging cow patties, angry mother cows, etc.) the terrain didn't bother me. I did hear other racers comment in fear on the few cow droppings, but, hey, life is full of $%^!@ so deal with it.

As with even bigger races, there was an issue of the course being marked. There also needs to be signage explaining something like, "If you're going to walk the course with your friends, walk single file." It's annoying to try to run hard only to have to dodge groups of people walking (slowly) 3-4 abreast.

It's a good small run, and the support local business. Honestly I'd rather run a smaller mom and pop like Jailbreak than with a major national franchise that has a self-inflated ego. If you haven't run a Jailbreak, give them a try.

I have done a lot of mud runs, but this was my first Jailbreak. Unfortunately it was one of the two worst mud runs I have ever done and in no way compared to events like Savage or Spartan.

The worst part was the hour long line for showers. They had a small water pump feeding 6 hoses with very low water pressure. I would have skipped the last mud obstacle had I known it would take so long to clean afterwards.

The obstacles were merely decent. None were big or challenging or interesting - they were essentially scaled down versions of the basic ones you find at a Spartan race. One of the wall obstacles was so poorly constructed that every time somebody jumped onto it the entire obstacle slid a couple inches across the ground.

The course was basically a cow pasture, complete with frequent cow droppings that you had to dodge, with the route marked off with orange flags. The "mud" portion of this mud run was only on the last obstacle and it was an army crawl through mud - it made for great pictures seeing everyone cross the finish line covered in mud but it was a really lame excuse for a mud run.

It was really hard to find anybody who worked there. Besides the people working the beer tent and bag check the only staff I could find were teenage kids. This was also true on the obstacles themselves. There was also only one water station on the entire course.

Having said all of that, I give it 2 stars instead of 1 because it was still a decent OCR and certainly more fun than a standard 5k race. I probably won't do this one again next year.

This run was no where near the quality / fun of the previous runs at the DFW Adventure Park, so much so, I want run it again if it is at the same location as this year.

Basically, they rented a cow pasture (complete with all the poop), marked out a route with "orange survey flags" and a couple of obstacles. And they ran it in March; try washing mud off at the back of a water truck in 50 degree weather.

I'm very disappointed, especially after running in their prior runs; my kids told me to "leave them out next year".