Terrain Racing obstacle races, mud run, and OCR information, distance, cost, dates, calendar, discounts, obstacles, reviews, and more

I had heard that the Terrain Mud Race events were good, so on May 3rd, 2014 in Phoenix I decided to find out for myself. Let's start with what I liked about the event. The volunteers. They were helpful and plentiful. From checking in to making sure racers were directed to the correct course for their distance, the volunteers made it a smooth process all the way around. The course. I would be hard pressed to find a course that would measure up to this one. The obstacles were a great mix of physically challenging and just plain fun. The distance between obstacles was excellent. Not once did I feel like it had been awhile since the last obstacle. They kept them coming. The medals. These bad boys were the best finisher medals I have ever earned. They were solid, big, in the shape of the Terrain monkey, and a beer opener. A perfect 10/10 and I would score it higher if I could. Now for the something I would like to see improved. The bag check. Checking in a bag consisted of being given a red piece of tape to write your name on and then attach it to your bag. To retrieve your bag all that needed to be done was point out a bag and say the name clearly written on it. This bothered me because my bag was the designated holder of wallets, cell phones, and other valuables for the entire team. To pick up my bag did not require any kind of ID or matching of bib number to a tag on the bag. Anyone could have said the name on the tape (which was in plain sight) and taken our valuables. This is a simple fix and I hope to see an improved bag check process at their next event in Flagstaff. Overall, this event lived up to the hype. I was impressed with it and will surely reccomend Terrain eventsin the future.

Most "small" events that only operate in one or two states and host 3 or 4 events in a given year are usually somewhat below par - that is clearly not the case with Terrain Mud Run. From the quality and number of obstacles on a 5k to 12 mile course to the friendliness and professionalism of the staff, you'd be surprised that you weren't at one of the "big" name OCR's with ample resources. I interviewed the owner, Jerry Foreman, and we got into a long discussion about obstacle spacing, specific groupings and what it takes to build a fun, challenging, and well-paced course - this guy clearly gets it and it shows in the enjoyment of everyone who challenged all of the different distances of the Terrain Phoenix course. I chose the 12+ miler, and while it was 2 somewhat tough laps around the course which offered a dozen or so obstacles, it surely wasn't boring. Actually, Terrain Mud Run jumped up my list of mud Runs & OCR's to the top 3!
With no "theme" like zombies or warriors to make Terrain extremely memorable, they may not have the buzz of many large races have - but while I was speaking with other racers, I came across several repeat offenders who look forward to the Terrain events in Tucson, Phoenix, Flagstaff and Las Vegas... I know in 2014 I will!