Drenched 5K

Two and a half stars for a great idea with poor execution. I feel like this farm wasn’t an appropriate venue for the course. (Zipline and rockwall were such a liability tease.) Two pairs of bubble/​foam machines do not a Wonderland make. Props to the parents who chugged through gravelly mud with double-​wide strollers. For the cost of parking alone, I hope you came early to get your workout in at the warmup boot camp. I don’t have anything against fun runs (insert joke about the exhileration of getting nailed by a firehose), but standing in multiple lines to get through brush bottlenecks is not fun. The slip’n’slide alone was another 15 minutes of waiting.

I got a free ticket for this 5K from Unilocal.If I had paid for the $ 35/​pp price tag to participate in this event it would have been 1 star. This was my first «5k” — I wish I had known we wouldn’t really be running– and that our shoes would be totally ruined by the end– I wouldn’t have worn my good running shoes. I also wish the hadn’t been so many bottle necks that you basically never actually ran at all. I didn’t realize the run was also going to be through fields uphills and would have no indicators of the distance remaining. The bubble foam areas were gross as mud seeped through my toes through my shoes making the squishing as I attempted to run unbearable. After it was over (I also skipped the slide so I likely only did a 4k) all I wanted to do was go home and get cleaned up. It has officially turned me off from all future «fun runs» going forward.

First off, thank you Unilocal for the entry! I can’t complain about the race, it was actually pretty fun for me. Maybe not so much for a certain friend of mine.
Just be warned: This is not the type of 5k where you would expect to run, or maybe even burn off a calorie. I actually think I could logistically plan a better 5k in my own backyard, because there were there were are far too many bottlenecks and unintentional mud pits at this farm. However, it is the type of race where you could bring the kids, or where you and your friends wear silly costumes and goof off on a giant bubble covered slip n slide.
Let me describe the course to you:
First you run down a dirt path.
Then stop, walk around a mud pit like the 100 other people are doing
Then you walk uphill through people spraying hoses at you
Then you stop, go around a mud puddle
Then jog through a field, get hosed off like an elephant at the zoo again.
Then stop, and wait to go through the magical bubble forest. Basically it’s a big foam party in a forest where they play Journey. (Note: for parents with running strollers, the foam is about 3 feet high, you will need to dig out your children from the strollers after the foam, don’t wait till they make gagging/​choking noises to realize they are completely encased in bubbles).
Vomit, because they are playing Journey.
Get hosed off like a hippo at the zoo.
Run to through the same field you just saw. Deja Vu!
Then you have the option to go to the finish, or wait in line for the gigantic slip n slide.
Wait for 45 minutes for the slid n slide that is covered in bubbles/​foam
Laugh at people who trip over the sandbags holding down the slip n slide cause they can’t see them in the foam.
Go down slip n slide.
Laugh at friend who is keeled over in front of you.
Realize friend has broken ribs.
Stop laughing.
Limp to finish line.
I finished with the record time of like 3 hours or so. Despite the injuries, I would actually say this was a 3.5 star race (one half star will remain deducted for the playing of Journey). My day of packet pick up was a breeze, I didn’t take this race seriously at all, it was just a excuse to play in water, throw water balloons and frolic on a hot day.

I also got a free entry from Unilocal for this run. But here is my honest review. I will cut them some slack since it was the first time they have hosted in the DC/​Baltimore area, but I really wish it had been better organized.
Race Packet Pickup: Downtown Silver Spring at CitySports — Serious win. Metro accessible point to pick up the packet. Awesome. It was easy in and easy out. Seemed super organized. Only comment I have is that I wished the time was til later in the evening. 7pm most nights I’m just getting out of work. I will also say I was a little nervous about going to pick up my packet right after work while in work clothing because all of the emails said I would get wet when I went to pick up my packet. I didn’t get wet at the packet pick up, but again expectation was I would.
Day of Packet Pick up: Line seemed super long and people looked frustrated.
Parking: All of the emails leading up to the event said to bring $ 10 cash for parking. We arrived early and tried to pay for parking, but no one was around to take our money. We did see some folks paying for parking when we were walking around waiting for the run to start.
Water balloons: First the email said each person needed 20, then the email said 25. One email said both numbers! I was totally confused. We weren’t sure where to check in our water balloons. We figured it out when we saw others dropping theirs off. We dropped off our balloons, and given a bracelet. There was no corresponding identification on the cooler. So as soon as the race was over my fiancé and I went over to pick up our cooler because we feared our balloons/​cooler disappearing. There was no one there to help people pick up their coolers, so it sounds like lots of folks lost theirs (leading to a lot of disappointed children). After the DJ announced that the water balloon fight would start in 10 minutes, people waited another 30 minutes before starting on their own. I understand that there were still people on the course, but the DJ’s announcement added to a loss of control on this part.
Staff: I couldn’t identify the staff. They didn’t stand out in any way. This was a problem because if something happened on the course you didn’t know who to contact. It also meant I didn’t know who was suppose to be giving directions or who to be listening to.
The Course: They can’t control the weather but due to the rain it was a slippery mess on the trail before even the first wave went. By allowing the waves to be so close together, it lead to DANGEROUS patches for those behind the first group. Another issue was that the trail was fairly narrow when you consider there were runners with small children, strollers and dogs also running. The width of the course also became a major issue with choke points. Several times I had to wait for a while to pass through a foam point and I didn’t even bother with the slip and slide. It would have been nice to have some sense of how far you had already run and how far you have left. I wish I had some clear sign of how to bypass the slip and slide (I didn’t want to do it for fear of injury), and still complete the 5k. I ended up only running about 4k by cutting out that last section. My fiancé who just wanted to watch and cheer on runners expressed his frustration with a lack of a course map. He didn’t know where to stand or where people were headed next.
Waterfestival: I felt I had to register and pay for my fiancé to participate in the Waterfestival, but clearly that was a misunderstanding. He really didn’t need a t-​shirt or a sunglasses. I could have saved myself some money and just had him show up like everyone else and just hang out.
Honestly I can’t say I would do this run again, as I am not a fan of running trails. I hope that Drenched5k considers all the feedback they have gotten on facebook seriously and retools it for next year.

Receiving a free ticket to participate in the Drenched 5K, I was pretty excited. When you register and check-​in, you get a shirt, a pair of sunglasses, a course map, and your race number. I like the fact that this race wasn’t only about running/​jogging/​walking, but the fact that they had extra activities along the trail — for instance, there were misting tunnels, foam and bubble zones, watergun ‘snipers’ shooting at you, people with fire hoses spraying upon you, a 100-​foot slip n’ slide, and a water balloon fight tacked at the end. It was nice to take a break from the running/​jogging/​walking to cool off. There was also a dance ‘party’ where a dj was spinning some good beats. There were staff members along the way to guide you on the trail and also to give words of encouragement. Groups of people came with customized shirts and outfits, and everyone seem to be having a good time. There were also some booths set up for samples, like the Naked juice company, a cyclist organization, etc. The race was set up at Highpoint Farms in Clarksburg, MD, with some great greenery and space. The money collected will be benefiting the Children’s National Medical Center.
+foam and bubble zones
+watergun ‘snipers’