Gladiator Rock’ n Run

ANNOYING YOUNGER SIBLING
The Gladiator Rock ‘N Run came off to me as The Spartan Race annoying younger sibling that follows you around, copies everything you do, and borrows your toys without asking. I was having mixed feelings of this event, plus I wasn’t exactly fond of the logo of a guy holding a guitar… but I’m glad I went through with it regardless.
The event was held close to Barona Casino. Parking was $ 10. I opted for the Super Gladiator course — 5 miles and 25 obstacles. The regular Gladiator course was 3.5 miles and 19 obstacles.
LIKE A KID AGAIN
It was sooo much fun! I enjoyed all the running, jumping, falling, slipping, carrying things, rolling around in the mud, going down a water slide and getting dirty. I loved it! Lol.
YOU SHOULD BE SOMEWHAT FIT
Most of the obstacles were do-​able. However, if you have never tried bootcamp, cross-​fit or anything similar to those kinds of exercises… you will die. lol. I go to the gym regularly and run half marathons almost every month, yet there was times that I needed help.
GLADIATORS WILL HELP YOU OUT IF YOU NEED IT
Don’t depend on people to constantly help you, but if you are really struggling others will help. I kept slipping on the mud mountain, and someone helped me maintain my balance. There was another course where you had to jump in mud, and then climb up this inclined platform with a rope. When I was close to the top, I just couldn’t get myself over the platform. My muddy shoes kept making me slip. Some guy at the other side of that platform had to help me pull my legs over. I was kind of embarrassed, but oh well. LOL!
MUD EVERYWHERE
Don’t wear any light colors because everything turns brown. Wear old or ugly shoes. My socks were sooo disgusting afterwards, I ended up throwing it away. There were water stations to rinse yourself off, and a shoe donation area if you don’t want to deal with your ruined shoes.
PERKS
You get a T-​Shirt and a medal in addition to free picture downloads of you in action. You never get free downloads of yourself at any running event.
Oh, and a good amount of people were fit. And shirtless. And hot. So be aware. Or self-​conscious. Lol. I’m definitely doing this again next year… but hopefully by then I will also be fit, shirtless and hot. Lol.

This is a run you will be so happy you did!
It was challenging, and fun, and the obstacles were tough but do-​able!
You crawled through mud and it was everything I was ever hoping a mud run to be!
It was hot as well, and there were times I had to walk, but if you want to challenge yourself and also have AN AWESOME TIME! Do this run!!! Free shirt, medal at the end, a timed event as well! Dig deep and find some inner strength and kick some ass!
Definitely do this event with a friend or even by yourself! I would definitely do again and recommend to anyone who isn’t afraid of getting dirty~

Yeesh. This was a hot mess if I’ve ever seen one. And by hot mess, I mean it was 104 degrees and we were crawling through mud.
Registration and pick up was a breeze, although it was organized by bib number and not everyone had that handy (there was a list for those who didn’t have it). There were various vendors and a really bad STP band playing to keep you psyched and ready to go.
Once we got running, there was one major thing I noticed was lacking in 104 degrees: WATER. Holy effing helllllllll. We needed more water stations. The four that were there would have been sufficient if it were 60 degrees out; but at almost twice that I was dying.
To be honest, I wasn’t well trained for this. I an run a 5k, but I’ve never run a 7k. I knew there would be walking. The trains were skinny, so if some people start to walk, it forces everyone to slow down.
The obstacles were fun and weren’t that bad. The hardest for me was The Wall right at the end. There were people there to help you and lots of encouragement, so that was nice. I definitely ended up with some scratches and bruises, but nothing serious.
Nitro is super nice!!! He went around a shook everyone’s hand as we were getting ready to start the race.
We’ll likely try this again next year.

Thank goodness we went at 9:30AM group. Because the weather was already 85 degrees when we started.
I think that there should have been more water stations for the poor athletes who had the later times because it got up to 100 degrees. Also, I would recommend gatorade at the water stations for electrolytes instead of just water.
Getting our bags took a little long.
I did enjoy the Human Foam Car wash.
Lots of encouraging fellow athletes
I had a really great time on my first mud run. I thought that the obstacles were challenging but fun and «do-​able».
I liked jogging/​hiking up the hills in between the challenges.
I would definitely do this again!

I was in the 12:00 heat. Big mistake as it was over 100 degrees when we started. I wasn’t worried because I figured there would be mud or at the least they would spray us with water to cool us down Not only did that not happen but we ran the first mile uphill. This would have been fine had there been water (which there was not). I counted at least three people who needed medical assistance before the first mile was over. Terrible planning, a little water and everyone would have been fine instead people had to be helped off the course and I saw one girl laying down who needed assistance just to sit up. The challenge in this course was not the obstacles it was in getting to the obstacles. The worst part was towards the end they were rationing water and saying they were running out. SERIOUSLY running out of water, way to plan. I have done many mud runs and half marathons this was by far the worst experience I have had at any event. I was able to finish and was not sick but felt really terrible for all of the people who paid money to be miserable or even worse not be able to finish the course. The obstacles were fun and I did like the mud pit however terrible planning ruined this mud run.

THIS was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. I definitely had NO idea what I had signed up for once I actually started the race. There is NO amount of training that you could do to prepare yourself for this, but it is SO. MUCH. FUN. The event was set up perfectly, I showed up an hour and a half early on the day of the race and was able to pick up my bib in under 5 minutes from the registration desk (perfect!) The bands that were playing were awesome, especially the Stone Temple Pilots cover band… too legit to quit! My heat started at 11 am, and prepare yourself!!! Lakeside gets EXTREMELY HOT and the terrain of the race is generally hills (steady incline). Make sure you drink plenty of water the night before/​morning of and put on lots of sunscreen. For each heat, they would send off 40 people every 3 – 4 minutes, which made things run a lot smoother. The first obstacle involves paintball snipers who are trying to shoot you while you jump through windows… CRAZY! people were screaming and hiding behind each other. I thought that was an intense start, but then there is about a mile of INCLINE, a moderately difficult hike, especially when its 95 degrees out. Luckily, you come across a water station next (there are 4 of them through out the course). You follow up with a tire carry, where you do lunges around a fenced area. my complaint! Right after I did the lunges around the container the volunteer running the obstacle began communicating with other gladiators that they only had to run around the fenced area, instead of lunges (would of cut a minute off my time), but oh well! My favorite obstacle was either the polar pool (ICE COLD water) that you have to jump into and swim underneath beams to get out, this obstacle is the one that kept me from passing out/​dying. Anyways, I probably shouldn’t go through ALL the obstacles, but they were epic. Definitely tested your upper body, leg strength and balance (telephone pole carry, rope climb, beam balance, etc.) I saw a sufficient amount of injuries, so make sure you are watching every step (lots of potholes) and don’t have a fear of heights (saw someone fall off one of the 12 foot walls)…it will be the time of your life! SUCH a difficult course, but you’re so proud of yourself once you’re done. I must say, i feel like a gladiator. haha

All of my limbs and joints hurt. The muscles in between the joints hurt as well. This isn’t the fault of the course, this is the fault of my dumb brain thinking that my fatbody could do this thing. Actually, I didn’t fare too badly. It was hot. Really hot. But there was sufficient water along the way (I was in the 11:00 group). The obstacles themselves were fairly challenging and varied enough to keep it interesting. As the website promised, I have a healthy amount of scrapes and bruises two days later, I’m sore, but I enjoyed it. Growing up in the 90’s I thought it was awesome that it’s hosted by Nitro from American Gladiators and he was really good about shaking hands and mingling. Overall, this was really fun and I’m excited to try this again next year to see if I can do better than I did this year.

I’ve done this event twice: once last year and recently in June 2013. There were similarities and differences between the two events. The most recent one being the better laid out race. Hopefully this means that they listen to feedback and get better and better each race!
Getting there:
It is out in east county and can be a pain to get to. Make sure you leave plenty of time before your heat. Towards the end, there are a lot of windy roads on a two lane highway, so it can get backed up. Parking is $ 10 and carpooling is ENCOURAGED! This year we actually parked right next to the course so we only had to walk in. Compared to last year, where we parked in a lot up the road and was bused in (horrible!).
Course:
It’s on a paintball/​raceway dirt course. There are mud, obstacles, and running involved. The hardest part for me was toward the end running up and down a hill for about 4 loops. It was also 100+ degrees out. Due to the hot weather, it would have been nice to spread the wet obstacles around more. They were too close together and it would have been nice to cool down earlier in the run too. Make sure you train your upper body strength too. You’ll need it! We also saw and shook hands with Nitro before the race. He seemed to really appreciate us being out there. Something new this year, if you can’t do an obstacle you are supposed to do 10 burpees instead. Obviously they can’t enforce it, but some obstacle volunteers put more pressure on you to do it.
Post Party:
The line to get your bag was horrendous! My friends and I took turns waiting in line while others got water, bars, and hosed off. Hopefully next year, they’ll have a better system worked out. You get a free Sierra Nevada beer postrun!!! Most races give out miller lite or something so this was an upgrade! Since it was incredibly hot I was hoping there would be more tents up to get out of the sun and under some shade. Just as you drove in on the small highway, you’ll probably end up hitting some traffic because there is a 4-​way stop at the bottom of the hill.

Now this was a mud race. It may have also been more due to the weather than the actual course, but who cares? The day before and the morning of, it was raining pretty steadily, and this just made everything even more muddy than it probably should have been. I’m good with that. Ran with some good friends and we had a great time. Mostly ran together, but we did get separated as the runners broke away from the non-​runners late in the race.
PRO’s
*Muddy: We are running a mud run right? So much that my shoe came off, and my shoes were really tightened down. I was sore for days after this run.
*Obstacles: Truly felt like these were some tough obstacles I had to get through. I have done five mud type runs and these were the best ones… besides the Tough Mudder obstacles. Although where were the bags I had to carry? I was looking forward to that.
CON’s
*Far, Far Way…:It’s in the middle of East County (Barona Casino) far, far away from the cozy confines of San Diego. Had to wait a while through traffic to finally get to a restaurant that served hot food after we left.
*Bused In/​Out: Not a fan of that as it took too long to wait in line. We ended up walking when we got there, which I am sure was more dangerous (since you had to walk along the main road with traffic) but we got there a lot quicker. Get there early to avoid getting to your race time late.
*Beer Garden/​Post Race: Wasn’t thrilled with the set up they had. Didn’t seem like they put much thought for a good flow for after the event. They did have a good amount of vedors passing out free drinks/​fruit/​nutrition bars.
*Showers: This was a «mess», as they had a lot of problems with water pressure in many of their hoses. Had to wait a while to get water to rinse off.
Regardless, I really cool and fun race that I would do again if a bunch of my friends wanted to go at it again.