The Glow Run this past Saturday at the River Market was a
glowly, glitzy, noisy, sweaty conglomeration of athletes from the very serious
to the very silly – there was everything from tutu’s and tube socks to body
paint and bangles. I usually shy away
from running events in the summer, due to the heat, but this one was a must-run
as it advertised “one of the best race experiences of your life,” (http://glowrun5k.com/). I had to see if it would be true.
The Glow Run was slated to start at 9:15 pm, which was good
for the glow, but didn’t do a lot to stave off the heat of the day. My group, which included a few other runners (one
a 60 year old male on a team called ‘Little Glow Peeps’ who donned a tutu for
the race) and my daughter among others, had an hour to stand around, taking in
the incredible atmosphere.
Of all the runs I have done, this one probably had the most
free-flowing energy in the air. There
was really no pressure, because you can’t put a lot of pressure on yourself to
run your best when it’s 95+ degrees in the middle of July. It was more about being able to say, ‘I was
there,’ rather than ‘it was my best race.’
The music was thumping loud, there were dancers scantily clad all
around, strobe lights, throngs of people jumping up and down, a beer garden and
a fairly flat, fast course. They even
had a contest for ‘glowiest team.’
This run also
had the coolest medal and the best shirt of any run I’ve ever done. The v-neck tech tee was a refreshing, fairly
flattering change from the generic boxy, boring t-shirts you usually get. I am sending out vibes to the universe that
this is a change all the ‘cool’ runs will make.
There’s no point getting a t-shirt if it’s a shapeless hunk of cotton
that will sit in your drawer for five years.
If the Glow Run 5K comes back next year, I’ll definitely do it again. It may not have been the best race experience of my life, but it was fun way to gauge my fitness, and motivated me to sign up for another race!
