Foamy Fun and Big Cottonwood…

This past weekend I was able to run the 5k Foam fest-with my oldest daughter, little H girl.

Let me just say- this was SO much fun.I highly, HIGHLY recommend this race for a little family fun :). Hopefully they will be back next year because my oldestchild, D-man, really wants to do this one.
The race took place at This Is The Place Heritage Park. If you’ve been there, you know that it is at the base of the mountains,so there are some hills to deal with.
This is definitely just a “fun run”, though-so hills don’t really matter. Most people were walking up them.
I loved this race (and other races like it)because it is family and non-runner friendly.You don’t have to be all into running to do this race.It’s not competitive and is not timed. You just run to have fun… and get to the next obstacle :).I love me a good marathon, but I also love a race that I can do with my kids.I sure do like those kids of mine :).
Here we are before the race:

(I look like I need to use the restroom, but I was just trying to get lower for the pic)
They had a big blow up pit full of foam set up-and the kids there watching could play around in it:

This was awesome because we had someplace to be right after the race,so the husband and all the kids had to come, too. Having something there for them to do was so helpful.

Of course, they were all soaked by the time we left. They had a bouncy house set up as well.Fun times for all!
Another awesome thing was that they let you download the pictures they take during the race for FREE. I love that. Except that there was only one picture of me on the courseand absolutely no pictures of H-girl until after we had finished.

Still, the obstacles were super fun. There were 2 foam covered slip and slides,some walls to climb over, a rope ladder thing (that was REALLY tall), and a mud pit with ELECTRIFIED rope we had to crawl under. Luckily H-girl is little, so she easily fit under the ropes. I was not so lucky ;).(It really didn’t hurt- just shocking… haha- I’m so funny!) There were a bunch of other obstacles, too-so you never had to run very far at a time before coming to a new one.
Most races don’t give out medals for a 5k, but the Foam Fest did, which was great!H-girl loved getting her own medal.

We got good and muddy from the mud pit,but all the foam in the other obstacles cleaned us up pretty well.
I’ll say it again- I definitely recommend this race. There were more obstacles than other mud runs I have doneand I liked that they also had medals at the end.
Make sure to sign up early for 2014-the prices get pretty high if you wait until the last minute.I would also sign up for the earliest wave.The parking gets more difficult the later you get there._____________________________
My next marathon is coming up soon- next weekend!I’m excited about this one – It’s the Big Cottonwood Marathon. My last 2 races have been tough- with lots of uphill.
Big Cottonwood looks like this:

If I get tired, I can just roll down ;). Sadly, I am in no shape to PR this year-but I can scope it out so I can work on that for 2014.
—————————————-Disclaimer: 5k Foam Fest provided me two free race entries to promote their event. I did not nor will not receive any compensation for this or any 5k Foam Fest post.  All opinions will be my own according to my own experience with the race.