Warrior Dash-Upper Midwest

The crew that makes the Warrior Dash possible does a great job. Everything was very organized and clearly marked. All the heats ran on time (as far as I know) and we had an absolute BALL.
Before the race, there are plenty of restrooms and even had a bag check. Food and drink are available at all times and the bands they got to play were awesome!
After the race, they had the local fire department hose us down with their HUGE fire hoses. It was chilly but fun! You can even choose to donate your shoes to a good cause. Bring flip flops so you don’t have to walk around in your filth all afternoon.
Get a turkey leg, put on the hat they give you and bring your camera. The pictures will last a lifetime!

Aah, the Warrior Dash. I was convinced to do it by a friend, and ended up having an absolute blast.
The Good: Costumes. I saw super heros, Gumby, the seven dwarves and of course a lot of beards. The participants were all hilarious and friendly, and it was really fun. Everyone encourages each other in a weird way. Also good — It’s only a 5 K plus the obstacles. I really don’t think you need to train to complete this, as long as you have a little bit of guts and some pride, but not so much that you need to finish with a good time. Which means you can goad more of your friends into doing it, apparently. The whole event was very well organized. Packet pick up was a snap, staff were friendly, everything started on time. There were thousands and thousands of people there, but other than seeing them, you wouldn’t really notice. $ 65 for the entry was reasonable — I paid extra for the eye patches. Getting to jump over fire and crawl in the mud, and then eat a turkey leg with a beer with 15,000 of your closest friends? Totally worth it. Oh! And the swag was very reasonably priced — most other events a t-​shirt is $ 25 — they were $ 15 here for a good quality, well-​designed one.
The Bad: The obstacles were kind of monotonous after a while… I was expecting to jump and run over junker cars, and the tire obstacle was pretty lame. Also, I got completely banged up on one obstacle — the first one was a little dangerous, in my opinion. Most were fun though — including the mud and the fire jumping.
The Ugly: The dude in the authentic Tarzan loin cloth. And the dude in the old-​school kilt. Grosssss.
My friends and I will be back next year — we’ll be the ones dressed like ninjas. With warrior beards.

What a difference 3 months makes for a race such as this. I got a taste of Warrior Dash at their Midwest event which was hosted in June. The temperature at the time was in the 90s and it was sunny. Now it’s September and I ran in their Upper Midwest event. Supposedly Saturday had perfect conditions for competing. Sunday, the day that I chose, was overcast, cold and raining. That definitely dampened (pardon the pun) my experience. However, they still offered the great obstacles that Warrior Dash always promises, I came out relatively unharmed and I had the chance to run the race with a group of great ladies!
Parking was much better here. There were fewer dips and humps, so my car’s bottom never hit the ground. They were very welcoming of my spectating boyfriend and my dog. Check-​in was a breeze and there were signs everywhere to direct you to the places you needed to be. The afterparty area was a fun time as always, and I got my turkey leg despite the fact that they were supposedly sold out right before I finished my wave.
The course itself was a lot of fun, but seemed more dangerous than Midwest’s. I saw two major injuries in my wave and banged myself up pretty well. The conditions made many of the obstacles tougher than usual and it would have been nice to see more volunteers on the course to keep an eye on people. I also think they should have scraped off the steps on the vertical wall because mud from previous climbers made it nearly impossible to get up the first and second steps. Many Warriors attempted, failed and skipped that particular obstacle. Otherwise, I was very impressed with what they offered and I’m glad to see it was different than the course I did earlier in the year. It makes each location unique. I think I’ll come again next year!