OCD FOR OCR

This was my second year in a row running Panic in the Dark and I looked forward to it, because it’s always good times with a fun pre and post-race party.

• Registration and Festival:

The registration table moved fast and the festival area was set up in doors and was a fun time with food available and everyone had good times and lots of smiles and laughs.

• The Course:

The course starts out with a short school bus trip over to the local park and a pre-race speech that provides important information and a safe word for anyone that decides they want to end running the course early.

Once dropped off from the school bus, the course quickly enters the park and into the wooded sections, the race is run at night and they provide a strong head lamp to each racer to be able to see their way on the course and be safe. Like last year, I ran with some friends and one of them was very afraid of the zombie actors, so for the most part I ran as the leader of the pack and stayed just a little ahead of my friends to warn them of any really scary zombies or potential hazards on the ground to try to avoid.

I enjoyed how the course wasn’t completely flat and made its way throughout the park going both up and down some hills. The course had several wall climbing obstacles and a fun hay-bale crawl obstacle that included zombies grabbing at the racers as we crawled through, a thru wall obstacle, several other low crawl obstacles and multiple obstacles that used the parks natural surroundings.

For the second year in a row, my favorite part of the course was when it entered the local middle school for a while and I could spend a large part of this recap talking about some of the scary things that went on in the school, but I don’t want to ruin it for anyone that does next year’s race for the first time. The school is filled with areas for the zombies to hide and do a great job scaring racers while being completely safe, so they take advantage of this and place a lot of zombies in the school and really raise the fear factor.

I personally don’t get freaked out by zombie races and run them for the challenge and unique fun of them. I love this race the most because they don’t use a flag system and let the zombies actors chase racers down, which in my experience can end with an injury or inappropriate groping, but I have to admit the younger children zombies always to freak me out just a little and raise the fear factor I think for almost everyone. There is just something really freaky about seeing a child dressed up as a bloody zombie and they always do an amazing job when it comes to playing the part.

In addition to the trails in the park woods and entering the school the course also travels through two children’s playgrounds, which is always fun and again raises the fear factor. The course also has sections where we had to hug chain-link fences and crawl/climb though crisscrossing sections of bungee cords, which is a fun, easy challenge, and when you add the chance of being frightened by zombies it makes it even more fun and interesting.

The course finished up at a finish line and then a short bus ride back to the festival area and the party.

• The Bling:

The bling included a sexy finisher medal and a stylish finisher’s shirt. SmithFest Events always provides great bling and this race was no different. I am super happy to add the finisher medal to my always growing OCR bling collection.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

I always enjoy SmithFest Events because they are courses designed for everyone and you will see both the families on the course, having fun with their kids and as well some of the harder core obstacle course racers running multiple laps and having a good time as well. They also always put on a fun festival area and a party which again is good fun times for everyone.

The volunteers, zombie actors, course, festival and party area, and course where all great so I am rating this 5 out of 5 stars and look forward to my next SmithFest Event!

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)