LiveFitCT

4 thoughts on “LiveFitCT”

  1. Jennifer

    So happy to have a Connecticut race to do! Overall we had lots of fun, and will definitely look for the race again next year.

    I had e-mailed the RD before registering about the ability to do multi-laps; he got back to me quickly with the options. The pre-race info was not great, but like others have said, I was able to get the info I needed from their website. The parking was awesomely close, so a bag check was definitely unnecessary. The staff/volunteers were all friendly and happy. I’m so over getting t-shirts, can I really be the only one who just doesn’t want any more t-shirts? I was glad to get a medal – yes, it was on the “cheap” side, but let’s face it, I’m not out wearing the thing, it just gets hung up with the others, and I’d rather get that than nothing.

    As for the obstacles, they ranged from “very easy” to “whoa” – and a few very nicely let you choose your own degree of difficulty. There were two crawls – easy. The sandbag carry was short and probably only heavy for kids, though you certainly could have picked up more than one if you wanted. The bucket carry had two different weights and you could basically make your own challenge there, from carrying the lightest to carrying two of the heaviest (the buckets had handles). There was a set of inverted walls, one much taller than the other, so again, you got to choose your own difficulty. There were two traverse walls to choose from, as well, though in our group of five we each did both sides between our two laps and we had no consensus on which side was harder. The “web of ropes” obstacle just seems like a silly obstacle to me, and this one was high enough that if you wanted to you could just scoot under it. The tire obstacle was different (yeah!), and had a lot of us laughing as we tried to squeeze under the suspended tires. A slip and slide is fun – though hardly an obstacle (well, maybe if you’re afraid of water?) – but in this case, it made the last obstacle un-doable for many people. It was a large A-frame with a rope, but with it being very wet, mostly people were slipping all over it and didn’t get very far up it at all. Those of us with OCR shoes got to the top, but then there was nothing really to grab onto – the top of the frame was thick/wide, and many people who got that far gave up rather than risk a fall. We sat and watched in between laps and saw very few people make it over, and I cannot imagine that any kids were able to. The mountain itself was definitely an obstacle, and we definitely did more hiking than running – again, for kids, I would think this would be a bit of a challenge.

    The only waiting I did was at the sandbag carry on the first lap – even though it was at the top of a hill and they seemed to have a ton of bags, there were still more people than bags. The line for this moved quickly, however, and this was not the type of event where people were complaining.

    I liked the association with E4V. The 22 pushups with the veterans there was a nice touch, and they were cheering us on and very supportive.

    I’m not one to usually partake of the festival area, but this one seemed nice enough to me for the size of the event. I was happy to score a few powercrunch minis, I love those bars.

  2. Amber

    For a first event, this race surpassed expectations and like other reviewers I would like to see it considered for 2017 racelocal.

    Communication: Right from the start I was impressed with them. I sent a message inquiring about registering my daughter. They answered and honestly Keith went above and beyond and got their insurance updated so kids could participate. And I think it paid off…I saw lots of kids on the course. They could improve the pre-event email. It was sparse on details, but they had a lot of info on the website and I sent a message asking the one question I had and got a prompt reply.

    Event and festival area: I was not familiar with the area, but it was easy to find. Free parking literally steps from the event. They did key check (not bag check) which I appreciated and loved. Free tshirts with registrations were okay. Registration was very quick. Volunteers knew their stuff. We were there a little early and they let us jump into the first heat which was cool.

    I am not usually a festival area partaker, but my daughter loved the protein bar company. They had a couple food trucks, plenty of bathrooms, and massage. They had a good emcee that was easy to hear and music playing.

    Course and obstacles: I will say, shame on me, but this event was hillier than I expected. Fine for me, but my daughter complained but was able to do it.

    The course could have used a little extra marking, but there was an abundance of volunteers to help. Obstacles were very well constructed. A couple of them were new twists on things I have seen that I really liked. They had a crawl through tunnel that had rope across it so you really had to bear crawl which was nice. They had a crawl under with tires that was also really neat so you had to push the tires up with your body. Loved the pool at the end of the slip n slide. My only complaint was that the a frame wall was too steep and could have used cleats on one or both sides, especially being after the slip n slide. I skipped it after going 3/4 up and worrying about the transition and knew my daughter never could have done it. It was really well constructed though – solid, quality which I appreciate. Other obstacles like the traverse wall and reverse incline walls had two levels with orange being easier. Volunteers explained, but it would have been good to explain early on. The volunteers were great.

    Swag and Awards – The medal was okay, I think they could use an uograde next year. Shirt was just ok too…not a fan of white shirts especially at a mud run. I liked the gray tshirts as prizes and give aways better. Ideas to consider for next year. Again, not bad – just could be a little better to make it a hit.

    Keith the RD was great about approaching us and I know the small little thing to make this better he will see and adjust. He was great to work with and put on an awesome event – especially for a first time.

    Definitely consider it for 2017!!

  3. rl101@nyu.edu

    LiveFitCt Mudrun:
    Heard of a local event, less than an hour drive( big bonus when you live in western Ct) on an open weekend, so i figured why not. By the name , i knew there would be mud, and probably some elevation , as it takes place at Mt. Southington. Parking was a snap, across the street or adjacent to the venue, either way you were less than 3 minutes from your vehicle. For this reason there was no bag check, but there was a key check, adjacent to registration, crosslisting your keys with your wave time. Registration was a snap, though you had to sign a “death waiver” again, im sure when we signed up we signed one online as is par with pretty much any race these days. in the festival area there was a DJ , vendor for powercrunch, E4V( endurance for Veterans) 2 food trucks- Grilled Cheese guy( or something like that) and the Spud Stud ( ftw), all iterations of baked potatos, we got quesadillas there afterward, and btw a small order of fries could fill up one person. There was a local massage place which we utilized after $10 for 10 min, well worth it. There were 4 waves 9 am and 3 more every 40 min afterwards. They sent us up and down the hill plenty of times, at most i believe there were 3-400 ft of climb per ascent. Ive heard other NES’ers talk about TM at Mt. Snow, and with all the up and down this is what I imagine it would be like.. https://mysports.tomtom.com/app/activity/71571704/ The obstacles , in most cases were “entry level” in the sense they were not overly challenging , see link, and note #3 was named by our very own Jennifer Decker, http://www.livefitct.com/obstacles/ . Ct’s Beautiful Views was 2 inverted walls side by side, one higher than the other, with no blocks and Mt. Southington Jr was similar to SR slip wall , but it was steep on both sides ,no ladder on the backside, where icebugs would been helpful, didn’t wear them, but also by design made it harder to assist racers who needed assistance, I know I tried. While there is a map of the course on the website, I happened to hear a couple of guys who were working there talking before the race, that the routing of the course was slightly altered , ie bucket carry was earlier in the race, and really having the bucket just before the finish would’ve been anticlimactic. At the finish the “medal “ was a plastic , similar to backstage pass you might wear with the words“ I survived the LiveFitCt Mud Run” . A bottle of water , and clementine was available , at the finish line. The tshirt was white cotton .. There were shower hoses off the side of the festival area behind the food trucks and a half dozen portapotties to change in or indoor bathrooms, both as advertised. There were 2 water stations at approximately mile 1 and 2. They did also offer multilap options for an extra donation of $10 to E4V. Id say based upon finisher times and wave frequency, and how long they had the mountain open, most NES’ers would be able to get 2 laps in , ambitious fast ones 3 , if they let the extra lappers go out untimed between waves. Looking at the results there were less than 200 participants , and the last wave was sparsely populated so it seemed to be fine for the traffic flow, of course if they get a lot more sign ups they may have to spread it out later into the day.
    Criticisms/ Comments:
    The race was kid friendly, we ran a lot of the race with Jenni and her nephew, 6 yo ,and Amber was carrying her daughter for a lot of the climbs.
    Not so much for me, but for those that love mud ( I realized that when I signed up there might be more) the only mud was the mud crawl under rope, second obstacle, which was more muddy water than mud, but fine for me personally.
    Some of the obstacles, CT’s Beautiful views, traverse wall , bucket carry had two different difficulty options, visibly labelled as blue and orange, orange being easier. What would’ve been beneficial if the start line announcer mentioned that , especially for the unsure. The vol at the bucket carry mentioned it, you could see it obviously at Cts beautiful views and sort of surmise it at the traverse wall.
    There were certain the sections of the course that markings were ambiguous, in those cases were came across volunteers which were able to direct us properly. We met with Keith D’Amora, the RD or Race owner after, he saw my Racelocal shirt and gravitated to it like a moth to a flame( ha ha) , and were able to articulate our concerns.
    Not every race has to be competitive for me and this was fun pleasant local diversion, where I got to meet NES’ers I hadn’t in the past , and I look forward to having this one repeat next year.

  4. sean@seangifford.net

    It’s important to remember that this was a local event, in its first year, limited to a set number of participants.

    NES was given a code that worked throughout to set the price at $45.

    Parking: onsite, free, easy
    Course: 10 or so obstacles. Not super hard but VERY well done. Sturdily built. Solid. Even the water slide had a “pool” at the bottoms to help fullfil your experience.
    Swag: normal tshirt and polyflex medal (not metal) but solid for a first event.
    Multilaps: FREE, easy and welcome
    Staff: thankful, happy to have us

    This event had a very community and family feel. It was their first event. It was not a Spartan. But EVERYONE in my family loved it: my wife, my 4-year old (who did the “fun” obstacles” and my 9-year old who did the whole race.)

    There were lots of food trucks and vendors.

    It’s would be easy to rate this race “below average” if your standard is FIT, Spartan, or other established races. But for its first year this race exceeded my expectations. It should Be welcome to #RaceLocal – this is a community race – think Wason Pounder.

    I will be back.
    I will forgo other races for ones like this

    Oh by the way, it was on a ski hill we went up and down abou 5 times.

    I loved it.

    The only thing lacking was a prerace email. That said, all info I needed was clearly on those website.

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