Glow Run 5K Race Recap

The Children's Advocacy Center hosted a revamped 5K last Friday.  They have had a 5K fundraiser for a couple of years but this year they changed things up a bit and it was a lot of fun to participate.  The 5K was previously held on a Saturday morning just like every other race.  To spice things up, they hosted their race on a Friday evening and called it the Glow Run. 

I signed up to participate with some friends from the Rush Running crew.  About a week before the race I got an email from the race organizers that the start time had been delayed to allow for maximum glow! I met up with my friends after work and there were lots of activities for everyone at the race.  There was a BBQ cookout going on next to the registration tables.  They had some great bands playing on a stage in another area of the parking lot.  They had a firetruck for kids to visit and also a couple of bouncy houses.  My personal favorite were the mini-ponies.  There were dressed up 80's style for the occasion and had glow bracelets on their hooves. 

Several of my friends opted for the fun walk so we split up around 7:00 when their event started.  Jody and I were both doing the 5K run and we had our own fun walk to the start location for the run.  This was my only real complaint for the run was having a separate start and finish location.  It was almost 3/4 mile walk away but it I won't complain too much since it was an uphill walk which meant a nice downhill start for the race!

There wasn't much organization at the start location.  Just before 8:00PM the organizers brought out some lighted balloons to launch.  Well, right at 8:00 they launched the balloons with a small starting whistle and the race was off.  No one realized that it was the exact start of the race so there was a lot of confusion about whether to go through the parking lot, on the sidewalk, or on the road.  Gladly everyone figured it out eventually but Jody's fiance Shannon was quite surprised as the mass of runners came after him on the sidewalk. 

The race course went back down our warmup hill towards where we were parked and the finish line festivities were. 

You can see Jody and I in the middle with the black and red jerseys with white writing on the back. 

It then went onto the local trail system for an out and back.  The trail system was very nice but had a few rollers along the way.  As I was nearing the turn around point, the light was diminishing and it was quite trippy.  The organizers had given all of us fun glow necklaces and bracelets to wear and they also put glow sticks in the trees and along the path near the turn around point.  It was a fun way to light things up!

Nikki, Jody, Me, and Jon...representing Rush Running!

My goal for the race was to avoid walking and have fun.  I don't really feel ready for race season so I'm working my way back into that race mindset with non-time oriented goals.  I did really well and kept myself from walking the entire race.  And more importantly my glow necklaces stayed in place as did the glow mask that I had on like a headband! The race was a little short but my time was 30:55 for the distance.  Not a bad start for the season...definitely plenty of room for improvement!

Cathy, Maja, Rhonda, and Tammy...awesome volunteers!

And my friends who had done the walk ended up getting roped in to volunteer at the finish line cutting chips off shoes.  It was a great finish line to run up to with friends all around cheering me on! From there we headed to a nearby restuarant and had some snacks, drinks, and lots of laughs.  It was a great Friday night with running, friends, and fun!