I honestly don’t think you’d have a good time at this point. I think you’d be so down on how much everything costs, that it would just ruin it for you.
I did the Seattle one at the end of September so I know the feel. They’ve even got an advertised price, and then when you’re signing up, there’s a “mandatory insurance” that you have to pay $15 for. Try emailing them and asking what that covers. You won’t get any answers there. Except that its more dough out of your pocket into theirs. Just thinking about it is pissing me off again.
I had a good time though. As far as your original points:
.didn’t realize it was gonna be 100 bucks or more.
-*-If you don’t sign up at the very beginning of registration, the price goes up incrementally. And don’t forget that “mandatory insurance” charge.
The location is 2 hours away…that’s gas money going to and from. Now my buds/team want to stay in a hotel the night before…that’ll be whatever that costs. There is a fee to park.
-*-Convince them all to stay at one persons local house, then split the gas and parking cost. 2 hours aint that far of a drive.
There is a fee for spectators to watch(40 bucks)…I have some friends and family who want to watch.
-*-This is on them to figure out if its worth it. Probalby not from what I saw. I don’t know exactly wht the $40 gets you but… There were random people around the course just hanging out waiting for their participant to come by. But that was honestly several miles into the course that I saw them. I’m not sure if that was the norm or how good of a view that $40 gets you. The last obstacle or so should be visible by anyone. I don’t remember that spectators couldn’t have just stood near the beginning and end/last obstacle and watched, seeing as how that area was also the hang-out/checkin/bag-drop/etc area.
And lastly(for now), you are not allowed to bring any food or beverage on-site. They will supply water for you, but you must pay the vendors to eat or drink anything besides water,
-*-There’s no one checking your bag though (in my experience) and lot of people have bags or backpacks or some way of carrying their clean clothes and stuff. So maybe its against the rules to bring in outside food, but no one is really checking. Just maybe don’t be trying to sneak a large Pizza Hut pizza in or anything like that. Booze probably shouldn’t be brought in for legal reasons of some sort, but I wouldn’t think food would be an issue (again, as long as you’re not obvious about it).
I mean is it total chaos? Am I able to move freely without worrying about getting stomped or having to wait behind others while running and attempting obstacles? Is it just an uncontrollable chaotic cluster of mess?
-*-It depends what wave you’re in and when you actually start. If you want to race for time, you need to be in the very first wave so that there is a guarantee of no lines in front of you at obstacles. Or you just need to be lucky later on. Lines depends on how many people are ahead of you (obviously) and how fast you are compared to the rest of the people in your wave. I started about 15-20 minutes late after the rest of my wave, so as we were going through the course, there was very little crowd or people in the way. There were people at the obstacles, but hardly ever a line if you wanted to step up and attempt. However, I’ve seen videos where lines are long and heard stories about them being up to half an hour at harder obstacles.
I am learning that with each increasing year this event grows exponentially, not only in locations but the amount of individuals who participate. I’ve read some locations have actually canceled events within days and even the day of the event due to insurance/permit/and obstruction issues. So even after paying for the ticket, I’m still not guaranteed the event will take place and there are no refunds or transfers.
-*-Yeah, they canceled Maryland (I think it was), after traffic and parking and mud and rain was an absolute clusterfuck. Not sure how it was resolved, but its probably not too hard too Google it. If they didn’t want to lose a bunch of face, they probably comped everyone to the next event.
One other tip: if you’re going to be in a cold area and its going to happen during a cold time, you’re probably going to be miserable running 12 miles soaking wet in the cold. I did it on a nice sunny day, but if I’d had to do the Arctic Enema (full body dunk in a tub of ice water), I would have hated it.
Like I said, I thought it was expensive, but still had a good time. In fact, probably within a week of doing it, I signed up for the one next May with my three college buddies. If that says anything.
Any other questions, post em up or email me (I think you can email me through the TN Hub).
My three Go-Pro videos I’ve had time to put together:
Tough Mudder Seattle 2012 - Berlin $#%#&$* walls
Tough Mudder Seattle 2012 - Funky Monkey
Tough Mudder Seattle 2012 - Shocks on the Rocks
