Terrain Race

Their chip time didn’t load correctly for any of the people that ran in San Jose this year. The start times show that everyone started at 8:15. Since I finished at 1:45 it looks like it took me almost 6 hours to do the run. I emailed them several weeks ago and they said they were going to fix it. They never did.
They also didn’t load the pictures from the kids race so I don’t have any photos of my kids doing the race.

I highly recommend NOT signing up for the competitive heat!!! Ran the race in San Jose in the competitive female division. I was not the fastest runner on the course but was able to finish every obstacle very quickly including the Monkey Balls which is their toughest obstacle. Once I completed the obstacle I was told by several spectators that I was the first female to complete the obstacle. Hearing this, I knew I was in the front of the pack! When I crossed the finish line, I was told by the race director that there was not enough evidence to show that I completed every obstacle and that I do not qualify for a prize! What else did I need to show them besides completing every obstacle they put in front of me!!! They have volunteers standing at every obstacle to confirm you have completed it! I had my competitive bracelet on when crossing the finish line. The race director said he would look back on video and photos to determine if I completed it… If they actually did look back on photos and videos than there is more than enough evidence to show that I completed ALL obstacles. He finally emailed me back almost three weeks later and said they don’t have enough evidence and apologized. They offered me a race voucher which I will not use because I do not want to waste any more time on this unorganized race! Turns out, the only other female to complete every obstacle crossed the finish line 15 MINUTES after me and took home my first place prize. I am very disappointed that I trained very hard for the competitive heat and was not acknowledged for my accomplishment.

Worst of the worst mud runs!
I did the race in Tucson, AZ in October, 2015. They give military/​student discounts… well, not really. They give you a $ 10 gift certificate to use towards merchandise. You can also get a code for a future race. Guess what, the code wouldn’t work on the website for another race!
VERY disorganized! None of our race times showed up on the website (4 of us). After many emails to them, still not resolved.
Charge $ 10/​person for insurance on the race day. Ripoff.
Examples of some «tough» obstacles: Jumping over a pvc pipe 2 feet off the ground. There were about 5 of these. Hardly any mud.
I run a lot of mud races, this is definitely at the bottom of them.

Not very organized. I signed up for Rage Race, and I guess it got bought out by Terrain Races, so the date and website were switched up on us. In the week before the race, we found out our start times were changed as well. The website was uninformative about the track and obstacles. We were also informed very late in the game that an extra 1.25k was going to be added on to the 5k run, so it was closer to 4 miles, which might have been fine if most of the «terrain» wasn’t uphill. They did have hot showers available (for $ 10), though, which earns them an extra star. Still, many of the timing chips were faulty, so some of us will never know how well we did. I signed up early and got a student discount, and had fun in the end, but I probably would not do Terrain Races again. I recommend Warrior Dash for a muddier and more challenging experience.

I did the race today in Arizona. I thought it was pretty well put together. Parking was easily found and was not too far at all from the run location. Our run time was at 10 so it may have been because it was still early, but the lines were short and we didn’t have to wait long to get out shirt and run chip. The start area was a bit small. There were some people «hanging out» of the cordoned off area but that’s not too big of a deal. My husband and I did the 3 mile course. The run itself was good, lots of different surfaces to run on. I liked how it was always changing. The hills were a nice challenge added to it. I’m in decent shape and the obstacles were easy to navigate. Another thing is that I wasn’t BORED. It kept things interesting throughout. There wasn’t a wait time either when you got to one which is a PLUS. Nothing worse then running and having to wait 5 – 10 minutes just to get to do one. I also liked the fact that there was a water/​mud obstacles were spaced throughout evenly. It didn’t seem like it was an overkill of it, and it would actually keep you cooled off as you were running. After you finish you of course get your «token». It’s a wooden triangle with the logo stamped on it. It would be nicer if it was a medal of some type like the other races have, but you do get a headband towards the end of the run. Their food prices were decent. The bathrooms (porta potties) were clean. They even had a nice hose area where you could spray off the mud and grim. It seems like its a fairly new run because there weren’t a lot of sponsor type tents there and the music was kinda quiet. All and all though I would do the run again in the future.

This is a here-​and-​now review because when it comes down to it, that’s what people care about right? I am not giving pity stars just because they are new. Now on to the review.
PROS:
1. There are two options (3+ miles and 5+miles), which by race day were actually extended to 4 miles and 6.9 miles. If you’re gonna do this, I suggest train a little extra. I’ve been running 5Ks and 10Ks, but none of them compared to this race. It wasn’t so much the obstacles as it was TERRAIN. They really do live up to their name. Personally, I enjoyed the extra mileage and I liked how they made good use of the environment (there was even a ~400M worth of ‘forest’ where you had to duck under branches and go over logs; a little dangerous but it was pretty fun).
2. Parking — they said there was a 10 $ fee, but we never ended up having to :) maybe they forgot?
CONS:
1. Timing — it took them two days to post times. While mine was correct, many people’s complained of errors. They have an updated version on their website now, but the ranking system sucks! How are you going to put the 3+ mile and 5+ mile runners on the same ranking system?! It doesn’t make sense. They developed a phone application which they boasted would give us our times and photos as soon as the race was done. To this day (9 days later), the app is still completely useless and I will be deleting it right after this review.
2. Pictures — 9 days later and still no pictures. Frustrating. I understand you are new, but seriously, 9 days?! I see Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder, and Spartan Sprint post up pictures the day of; two days after at the latest! Maybe if you can keep us — your customers — in the light and give us a GOOD explanation as to why you are lagging so much, then we can be a little more patient. BUT 9 DAYS? COME ON.
3. Post race celebration — Wack. You get a voucher for one slice of pizza and a one free beer. Pizza = Little Caesars. Beer = Bud Light. I asked if I can have some of the IPA instead and they said no. If you want another slice of pizza, the price is 3 $. THREE dollars for one slice of pizza when you can buy a box for FIVE DOLLARS. Get outta here with that.
4. Taunting — not from the participants, but from the host on the microphone. I understand you want to promote a non-​threatening environment for the many who are doing the race for fun, but it should not come at the expense of those who want to compete. Why are you offering a competitive wave if you’re gonna clown? In the words of the guy on the mic, ‘If you look like you’re trying too hard, I WILL make fun of you.” No I’m not butthurt, you just sound stupid. Some people such as myself find fun in competition.
5. Obstacles — very limited and not the 20 — 25 obstacles that they had claimed. Off memory, I only recall 15 at most — and that is rounding up. In the beginning, the host was hyping up the ‘dark room’. BRO, that was just wood covered in black plastic trash bags! I remember running through it and thinking ‘wtf? this is it?’ SERIOUSLY.
6. Staff — a lot of the volunteers were high schoolers and they lacked information. They looked clueless about what to do. The race was very disorganized and the people working there did not know where things were. I had to ask multiple staff members before I finally found someone who knew where the showers were.
I doubt I will be doing this race again in the future. I signed up months ago for 55 $ but I still feel cheated of my money.

If anyone gives these guys more than one star they are related to the owner. For 65 bucks they promise you a t-​shirt (That was best thing about the race) challenging obstacles, Posted times, pics, food, beer, and mud.
Most of the obstacles were a complete joke. Here are a few examples of the challenging obstacles. They took a roll of string and wrapped it around a few trees and you walk through that. They give you a head band and say blindfold yourself and walk about a 100 feet and step over a couple of hay bales while a volunteer attempts to give you directions, The sideway rock climb obstacle was so poorly built it didn’t last the day. The muddy water slide ran out of water.
No posted times at the race, then when they posted the times online my name and time wasn’t on it but my friend whom I was running right next to was (and Yes I returned my chip together with my friend in the same box) When I sent them an email about this I got one back that was snide as hell telling me that they already sent out the link to the time page. Yeah I got that and yeah my name wasn’t on it that’s why I sent you the email in the first place.
Pictures, still waiting for those but they sure had time to send us out a survey.
Food, a slice of pepperoni or cheese pizza from little Ceasar’s. Talk about feeling cheat after running a few miles.
Beer, a half size cup of Coors light.
Mud. at the very last part of the race as if it were an after thought.

We were bamboozled!
1. Terrain Mud was hypin it up for months saying «terrain: 20+ obstacles and mud pits». What they meant to say was you will get to experience 5 low-​level obstacle courses that a child can do and maybe 2 or 3 adult level monkey bar, bar-​hanging and sideway rock climbing. All this done in only TWO mud pits.
2. Prior to the race, they asked us our food preference (vegetarian or meat) which would imply to a sane-​minded person that we’re actually going to be fed filling food and beer to «party with friends at the finish line.» Bamboozled once more! What they meant to say was, «Do you want ONE slice of cheese pizza or pepperoni pizza from Little Ceasars? Don’t forget to pick up your cup of Coors Light at the «Beer Garden».
If I didn’t go with our fun team of friends, I would have been VERY disappointed. Since I accomplished this so-​called «terrain mud run» with friends, I did have a good time.
I suggest to pour a few gallons of water in a park and fool around in that, run around the park a few times and swing on the monkey bars and call it a day. In that way, you save $ 65 and still get the experience of rolling in mud.

Terrain Racing is a mud run, they have a 3 mile option and a 6 mile option. It was $ 65 bucks, for online/​early registration.
It is ONE hilly son-​ama-​gun. Obstacles weren’t very challenging, it was the run itself that takes the wind out of you. They get a 4/​5, because the obstacles were ok– I really wanted more obstacles and MORE mud!!! I’ve never ran a mud-​run before, but it’s not nearly as muddy as they advertise. They had a couple vendors/​sponsors out there, but really you can tell this organization is still coming up.
All in all, the 6 mile course is actually 6.8 miles and thats what separates the men from the boys. I had fun, this was my first ever mud run– but I gotta tell you– even w/​the half-​marathon training I’ve been doing, I was still underprepared.
I hope they continue and come back next year!!! Thanks Terrain Racing for a fun event!
*edit– my fellow Unilocalers below are right. I feel that I was a bit generous with my rating, perhaps I was still on my runners high when I wrote my review originally. I’m lowering it to 2 stars :(There still hasn’t been any info about race photos, to say the least.