Glo Run Chicago 2014 – 5k "Race" in Downtown

Last night a group of friends and I headed to downtown Chicago for The Glo Run Chicago. I can honestly say it was the most fun I’ve ever had running! Going into the event we weren’t too sure how much we would run or how easy it would be to actually run it. They did say that it was not a timed event. We knew the bulk of the event would be fun but my running buddy and I did agree that we wanted to pay attention to time. I told her to set the pace and I would go along with it!

Of course we decided that this would not happen without a WHOLE LOT OF NEON! I would share with you links to my Yoga shorts & awesome top but Meijer’s website is awful and we found them in the store. Go there if you are looking! My awesome pink pants are from Kohls. We had a ton of fun shopping for our clothes and really it made the event even more exciting to get ready for.

The Glo Run – Chicago

It was the PERFECT night for a run and it made things even better. I had been in Chicago already for the day at the musical Wizard of Oz, so I had a nice walk down to the park to get ready for the race. For the record, I DID NOT wear my neon to the show.

The basis of the Glo Run is that you run for 3.1 miles and there are random glow in the dark tunnels that have black lights & djs hanging out for the duration. Of course each tunnel required a selfie so there was a brief stop for each one. I believe there were 3 all together plus the finish line.

It took us a good 10 minutes from the time the race started to actually get to the start line. There were a LOT more people than I expected. It was so much fun. We slowly moved forward under one of the bridges and people above us were cheering & the dj’s music was going. Every once and awhile there would be a glow stick drop.

It took us almost two miles to filter through walkers to get to the point where we could run consistently without dodging people, dogs & wheelchairs. As we ran along the road cars were honking, people were cheering & music was playing. Seriously though, you can’t go wrong running through a beautiful skyline like Chicago at night.

All in all we ran the race in 33:16. It was a PR for my friend that I ran with, so that was exciting! There is no question that I will do the Glo Run again if it comes to Chicago.

There were a few things that I wasn’t all that thrilled with but did not ruin the night by any means.

• Gear Check – This was a disaster area! While My gear was safe and all seemed good while it was there, actually picking up my gear after the race was not easy or organized. It was more or less people having their race number and the volunteers going bag to bag to see if it was right. No lines were formed and people were pretty much shoving their way to the front.
• Running Out of Fun Stuff – Maybe this was our fault for doing same day packet pickup (per-registered), but they ran out of the pink t-shirts (so most of my friends wound up with grey, I got there JUST in time), they ran out of sunglasses & there were differing types of sunglasses. As a team we were supposed to get Glo Sunglasses. They were plastic sunglasses that said Glo Run on them but then other people were given actual light up ones. They had run out at some point.
• Mile Markers – While the race wasn’t timed (and that is totally okay), we had thought there would be mile markers along the way just to get an idea of how far we had gone. With the chaos that was the starting line (due to people, not disorganization) it was hard to really judge just how far we were in the course. None of the volunteers had any idea either.

Like I said, none of the “downsides” would make or break me doing a Glo Run again. Just a few of my thoughts. Maybe they were totally normal for a large race like that!

This morning I decided to do a post race “cool down” or something like that. To be honest I got home at 11:45 last night and was out running again at 10am so I don’t know if that qualifies me as sane or not. I went for a 5 mile run and finished it in 46:22. I was moving pretty slow after last night but it felt good to run. I think I’ll sleep good tonight!