On Saturday morning at Camp Jordan, almost 1,500 people decided to have a little fun mixed in with their running, as they participated in the Insane Inflatable 5K.

The park served as a backdrop for 11 inflatable obstacles on the three-mile run. Runners climbed, slid, hopped and avoided “hazards” on the inflatables arranged around the park.

“It was fun, but it hurt,” said Leslie Haddock after she and a group of friends completed the course. “I wish I had of trained a little more. A ‘bouncy house’ would have made great training.”

Haddock’s friend Jessica Allison said the event was “a blast.”

“It’s much better than just running a regular 5K,” Allison said. “I’d love to see them come back. I’d do it again.”

Nick Germano, the event director, said 1,300 people registered to participate in the race. Germano’s crew, which is out of Charlotte, N.C., have been going around the country putting these on for several years. He said that proceeds from the event go to a local charity, in this instance, Pink Heals.

“This is the first time we’ve been here,” Germano said. “It was one of the smaller ones that we do. We have had as many as 3,500 people participate in some of the events.”

Germano said that Camp Jordan was a great place to have an Insane Inflatable 5K, and that his group would like to come back in the future and do another “crazy fun challenge run.”

Robert Baty is president of the local chapter of Pink Heals. Baty, a firefighter from Jasper, Tn., said there are 70 Pink Heals chapters around the country. Baty said the organization sells merchandise at events like the Insane Inflatable 5K and uses that money to support needy local families who have a member fighting cancer.