War Paint Waldo

People talk about epic failures at Spartan, Tough Mudder or Warrior Dash constantly: medal size complaints, being bored by the “same old obstacles,” a delay in getting the photos or results. These are all things I have personally had to defend as a volunteer for these race series, yet people still gladly pump out $140 to $245 for an event selling them out in mass, thousands, even tens of thousands, racers being reported as the official registration numbers. Then an imaginative new upstart has an issue with getting results posted, photos out, or not being a fan of a new finisher medal and the masses call for their heads, demanding that no one ever try one of these races. All while paying as little as $40 or so for an equivalent distance course with some obstacles new to the community, or even worse a $60-$80 race that is a superior product, well executed and no they cannot get more than a few hundred people to show up.

#OCRUnited, #RaceLocal, #AnyRaceButSpartan you see people posting these types of statements all day long, then promptly followed up with a post the next day with their 6x Trifecta, 10X Legionnaire Headband Plan, etc. That plan never seems to include variety like signing up for quality varieties like Conquer the Gauntlet, Terrain, BattleFrog, BoneFrog or great local OCRs that for most of us are what first brought us into this amazing sport and family.