Yesterday I participated in my first-ever obstacle course race: the Shape Diva Dash!
My friend J and I heard about this months ago from one of our instructors at the gym and immediately signed up. Turns out we weren’t alone – they had more than 5,400 Divas register and the race ended up selling out quickly. For those not familiar with the Diva Dash (I know I wasn’t!), it’s a 5K “Women’s Obstacle Adventure Run”. They’re careful not to reveal the actual obstacles beforehand, but a little online stalking research of Diva Dashes in other cities made it clear the obstacles would be things like climbing up over a rope wall and balance beams. It is a chick race after all.
We showed up at the Marshfield Fairgrounds nice and early, so we had plenty of time to get our bib and chip (I haven’t seen a chip that attaches to your shoelaces in years!) and check out the vendors and free loot before our 9:45am wave start.
A lot of girls were running in teams and had really creative outfits. There were the usual tutus, tiaras, and plenty of colorful knee socks, but I was surprised how many teams got their own shirts made. My favorite was a group of L&D nurses: the front of their shirts said “Delivering Divas” and the back said “Just Push It” with an image of a crawling baby. Heh heh.
J and I were pretty boring and decided to wear all black, although we did paint our nails an obnoxious purple (which was a ton brighter than in this photo).
We tried to do some snooping but most of the obstacles weren’t visible from the expo area. However, we did see this right before the finish line:
The race started out with maybe a .50 mile run around the parking lot before we encountered our first few obstacles: a series of dirt ramps, a balance beam (super easy) and then we got to the jersey barrier hurdles, which I thought was the hardest obstacle of the whole race (let’s just say I’m thankful I’m not planning to have any more children). Following that was a maze you had to crouch your way through (nothing too complicated) and more running out in the blazing sun, which was pretty intense for Sept. We got to the next obstacle, which was a wide pipe or tube bridge over a pit of water – another balance test. Again, it was pretty easy, so we zoomed over that and entered the trail run portion of the race. Call me naive, but I didn’t think a 5K race with 12 obstacles would include so much trail running – I thought the obstacles would have been more evenly spaced out?
About 5-10 minutes into the trail, I asked myself, “Where’s the mud and water?” The race organizers made a point of saying “you will get wet.” Maybe if you fell off the pipe obstacle? I was also regretting my choice to wear an old beat up pair of Brooks, which I had picked out with their warnings in mind and would have been fine tossing after if they were all muddy and gross. Let’s just say they were not the most supportive racing shoes and I would have definitely worn my brand new Brooks if I had known there’s be so much trail running involved. Sigh.
It was hard to tell, since there weren’t any mile markers (??), but I want to say we did about 1.5 miles of hilly, single track trail running. One benefit? We got some relief in the shade. One negative? I managed to swallow a few bugs (ugh). Honestly, it was pretty boring, although definitely tough (particularly for those of us who are more road runners and don’t end up on trails very often). Up and down, up and down, with a log or two thrown into the path, which I guess counted as obstacles? Unfortunately, this is the part where J got her foot caught and slipped and fell, scraping her shin pretty badly. But like a true diva, she shook it off and we continued on our way.
After what seemed like an awfully long time, we got to our next big obstacle: a very steep dirt hill that we had to run up one at a time. This was the only time during the race we experienced a bit of a logjam of participants trying to complete an obstacle. But it wasn’t too bad and we muscled our way over the top. At the bottom, we had to grab a log and run a short out-and-back before getting to what we called a “Chinese jump rope” maze kind of like this:
(Photo courtesy Shape Diva Dash)
We turned a corner and saw a lovely wall of hay bales to climb over (ouch) followed by an obstacle with tires on the ground and what looked like exercise balls hanging from ropes above it, so you had to run through the tires while pushing the balls out of your way. Not particularly difficult.
(Photo courtesy Shape Diva Dash)
About .25 miles later we finally got to the big rope ladder/wall we spotted at the beginning of the race. We scampered over and J and I booked it over the finish line. Final time? 35:25. About 10 minutes off my 5K PR but I’m totally fine with it, since J and I went into it just looking to have fun, not set any records. But to put it in perspective, we finished in 826th and 828th place out of 5,486 participants. Yeah, I can live with that! By the way, the woman who won (who we think was in our heat, coincidentally) finished in 22:18. Wow!
J and I scored our Shape magazine backpack and free Asics socks, grabbed our complimentary post-race beer, snagged a bunch of free Luna bars and Sahale snacks and browsed around some of the vendor booths. Since she and I are both obsessed with finding the perfect workout headband that doesn’t hurt or slip, we were immediately drawn to this booth:
These headbands are sooo comfortable and definitely stayed in place. Plus they’re sparkly. The vendor says it’s because the underside is made of velvet. Hmmmm. J ended up with this lovely turquoise headband and I went for a disco ball silver.
We were also infatuated with the Yasso frozen green yogurt bars. Oh my. So yummy. Plus it’s only 60 calories with 6 grams of protein. I tried a blueberry bar and I think I’ll definitely be picking up a box on the next grocery trip.
Our last stop? An obligatory race stage photo op.
On the drive back, we had to check out the nearby Marylou’s so I could finally try the flavored iced coffee I’ve heard others (e.g. Tina from Carrots n’Cake) rave about. Mocha mint? Yes, please.
So here’s my Diva Dash review:
Pros:
- While I was a little leery of the timed heats (it looked like a LOT of people) and concerned about back-ups at the obstacles, I was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn’t an issue at all. Now it could be because J and I were a little obnoxious and lurked around the corral until we saw the sign for the 9:45am heat so we could be up front and get a head start. But I think the race organizers did a great job creating obstacles that multiple people could do simultaneously. That was key.
- Loved the T-shirt and the free goodies (including the free beer).
- Plenty of clean porta-potties (essentially on race day)
- Easy, convenient parking (although it wasn’t free)
Cons:
- They did not post the times, at least anywhere we could see. I don’t understand why they couldn’t put a timer at the finish line, like they have at most road races? Because we went in timed heats, it would have been pretty easy to figure out your time.
- I wish they would have mentioned something in advance about all the trail running. I understand the need to keep the race course a secret, but at least this way people like me could have made sure we were wearing the right footwear. My shins are definitely not very happy with me for wearing those crappy sneakers.
- It would have been nice if the obstacles had been spaced out more evenly, which would have also broken up the monotony of the trail run. Mile markers would have also been helpful.
- J and I both agreed that the obstacles – while fun – were pretty easy. Trust me, I’m a girl who does not like getting dirty, but I have to admit I was looking forward to getting all muddy and dirty as part of the race experience, so I was kind of disappointed (and felt a little misled). As I told J, it’s like they were “girl obstacles.”
Next up for me? The Tufts 10K on Columbus Day, although J and I are considering signing up for the Boston Ruckus Fearless Fall 5K in early November. Maybe this time we’ll actually get muddy!
Have you ever run an obstacle course race? Did you like it?
hemingwayrun says
Excellent recap! well done!
Jessica says
Thanks! It was a lot of fun ๐
Blogging Runner says
Wow! This race looks like so much fun! Great job!
Jessica says
Thanks!! It was definitely a lot of fun. Now I know why some people are hooked on obstacle course races ๐
Blogging Runner says
I haven’t done one … yet!