I must say I had very high hopes for this event and for the most part, they pulled it off pretty well. I struggled a little bit on whether to give them three or four stars (3.5 would have been perfect score but yelp doesn't do halves) but since everyone involved seemed to really enjoy themselves I couldn't help to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was very well organized and despite not being able to pick up my packet early (I live in Rock Hill, too far to drive to Concord twice) picking it up the day of the race was simple\\easy ($5 charge was a little too capitalistic for my taste but still cheaper than the gas I would have spent driving to packet pick up) The cost to run this 5k is a little pricey considering all you get is a cotton tshirt and a race bib but I didn't feel like it was a rip-off because I did feel like I was on a real life game show and that's not an easy thing to produce. The start music was great and the obstacles are designed to be fun yet some where slightly challenging. The gorilla bars, the get up and over and even getting up most of the slides requires some upper body and leg strength. The moon bounce, foam slide and tarzan swing were more pure entertainment. The wrecking ball, jumpy balls (darn near impossible to do) and sweeper were the only obstacles that had any real element of danger\\failure to them. Cool running's was by far the fan favorite as people kept going back to repeat it (going down a slide on a inner tube)  The tire mile was really pointless afterthought that could be taken out for something the better. The big slide at the end was fun too but by then I was almost tired of the slides. I think they could have taken out the drop and tire mile for the tight rope transverse and the aqua drag (other obstacles they have done in other cities but didn't do in Charlotte as they only pick 12) and that would have added enough variety to keep it from feeling redundant. The end felt sort of anticlimactic as there was no celebration afterwards outside of the foam photo place which was cold and crowded at times. Not much in the way in food or prizes. And for once at the drink stations at the mile markers, can we get some actual COLD water\\sport drinks? Seriously that nasty water out the hose almost made me gag. I'm surprised a drink vendor sponsor wouldn't want to market their product for a bunch of thirsty participants. At the end of the day, people were having a good time. I was running with a group of about 8-9 people and that is the way to go. The more the merrier, get dressed up, act silly, laugh at each other, keeping everybody motivated when you get tired. Don't go out there trying to take yourself serious or be a loner or you will be sorely disappointed. Certainly a race I can recommend for casual runners like me and with just a few more tweaks, it could be the best race hands down every year.