5K Foam Fest Nanaimo

I'll just come right out and say it on this one.....it was freaking awesome. If the 5K Foam Fest comes to your town you should definitely sign up. It reminds me of a traveling fair for adults (although there were some kids running too), but with all the fun stuff you would do as a kid....get soaking wet and muddy while climbing obstacles, sliding down slides, running across water on a line of foam mats, and laughing your guts out the whole time.

This was the third 5K my friend Dana and I have run in the last month and we were both totally pumped for this one. 

Husbands and kids came along to hang out (although we'll all be running it together next year now that we know what it's all about) and everything was set up very well to keep everyone entertained.

The foam of course was a big hit but there were bouncy castles and other play areas for the kiddies as well as lots of food vendors, loud music (which got everyone totally pumped up) and a beer garden for the adults. If you follow me on Snapchat (mariahdupuy) you will have seen videos there.

Can you find Dana and I in our starting group?

And then we were off and hitting the obstacles!

I think I was laughing most of the time...just so much fun.

Once we went around this corner Chris wasn't able to photograph us very much as the course went quite a ways away from the spectators. We went through a couple of mud pits, did some trail running and then it was time for the pond. The first part consisted of us running across the water on foam mats. I felt like I was going to bail the whole time but somehow managed to keep on my feet. I think it helped that Dana was yelling behind me "you can do it! keep going!"...and I did. :)

After that was a huge line up for the "lily pads" which was a string of fourteen inner tubes tied together across the pond. Thankfully the music was loud and fun (kind of brought me back to the very brief clubbing days in my twenties) and a little dancing kept us warm.

We did a few more obstacles which included crawling on our bellies in the mud under ropes before we came into Chris's photography view again.

Looking towards one of the rope obstacles..

After some more fancy footwork between ropes and more trail running we came to the second to last obstacle which was a very high slide.

 There was quite a long line up here again and this is when we both started feeling the chill. When you're sopping wet it's important to keep moving! We finally made it to our turn and climbed on up..

And down we came with Dana screaming, there was definitely some fear conquering going on!

 We slipped straight into a pool of water and I was laughing the whole time...seriously, so much fun.

Getting ready to hit the last obstacle..

And done! We collected our metals, towels and popsicles and here I am grinning like an idiot for the picture. Did I mention it was fun?

The kiddies took full advantage of the foam spilling out at the finish line..

And came out pretty wet and happy...

There was one more obstacle which wasn't included in the race but you could buy tickets for and that was Skyfall, a 25 foot drop onto an airbag.

Aiden didn't even hesitate..

It's surprisingly high once you get up there..

 But you've just got to jump!

 So much fun! Oh wait, I've said that several times...how about a total blast?? Yes, it was a total blast, you should enter. ;)

I'll see you next year!