Blacklight Run - Massive Dissapointment

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sweetmelissa222
sweetmelissa222 Posts: 290 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I've done the Color Run twice and I was thinking that the Blacklight Run would be similarly awesome. I was wrong. I cannot say enough how unorganized this event was. Getting to the parking area took us about 45 minutes and we got there more than 2 hours in advance. We had to pay for parking, which was annoying, but wouldn't be a total mood killer if it wasn't for the other issues throughout the night. We hung out in a shaded area with a lot of other runners, many of which had awesome outfits and accessories. I have to say that the crowd was fantastic. The finish line was marked, but the start line was in a really confusing location and you had to enter from the start instead of being threaded through to the back of the line. Eventually that was corrected, but it was ridiculous before that. The run started with small bursts being let out at a time which is normal and everyone got on their way. There were only three or four color sections, to get to them, you had to get off the course and walk through the grass in the dark, had the grass been even, it wouldn't have been a big issue. The color throwers were awful and understaffed, two of us got through the entire run including all of the color zones with color only on our shoes. They had little photo areas, but they were on the course, holding up traffic every time you passed through one. There were no markers for how far you had gone or how much further there was to go. There was one water section on the course, it was in the first mile and it was in the dark with no marker to let you know it was there, the water was hot, not room temperature, HOT. The next opportunity for water was after the finish line and again, the water was hot, sit outside in 95 degree temperatures all day hot. When we got through the finish line, we were all so disgusted and thirsty that we made the trek back to our cars and left to go buy cold water at a nearby cafe. I am so flipping disgusted that I talked five of my friends into signed up for this after raving about how much fun the color run was. Thank goodness for awesome friends and great fellow participants because without them, I would regret everything about signing up at all.

Replies

  • ShibaEars
    ShibaEars Posts: 3,928 Member
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    That's too bad that it wasn't fun for you. Is this the first time they've done this run? Maybe they had a shortage of volunteers, and just a general lack of organization, like you said.

    You could probably send them a quick email to give them some feedback on how things could be improved. Keep it to constructive criticism and they most likely wouldn't mind hearing your concerns :)
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Stick to local races and support worthy causes. These kinds of races are interested in one thing - your money. And lots of it.
  • Im_NotPerfect
    Im_NotPerfect Posts: 2,181 Member
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    Stick to local races and support worthy causes. These kinds of races are interested in one thing - your money. And lots of it.

    Agreed. We did The Color Run last year and honestly I wasn't that impressed with it. I'd much rather do our local races and fun runs where I know my entry fee will go to a good cause.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I refuse to do these for-profit runs. We have several local runs in town every month that benefit charities and cost no more than $15 or $20 (less if you opt out of the T-shirt).

    I'd much rather support these causes than pay $40 o $50 for a gimmick.
  • aephidano69
    aephidano69 Posts: 2 Member
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    I take it you went to the one in New Orleans? I was there also. I count ourselves very lucky, we got there 15min before registration time, right before the gates opened, waited a few minutes in the registration line, sat in the shade listening to the great music, were in the second group released, then left once done and it took us 10min to get out around 10pm. The idea of the run is a good idea, but my friend who's done the Color Run said this one was very disorganized. Paying for parking sucked I agree. I was surprised how many people just walked the whole time, but think it was an underestimation of just how hot it was going to be even at 9 at night across the board (I thought I would run farther than I did but I walked most of it). One water station on the course was NOT ENOUGH AT ALL, and yea it was hot water, not cool water. Finish line water was cool though. Again, I think we just got lucky, those after us, which was like 10k people, not so much. When we left at 10pm the last set of runners was released. Hopefully they make changes next time, maybe glow in the dark lines so you know where to run, way more cool water stations and trash cans for the bottles and somewhat light them instead of having them in the pitch black dark, etc. Beer was cheap actually, surprised it was only $4. Some proceeds did go to charity, so at least it wasn't all profit.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    Stick to local races and support worthy causes. These kinds of races are interested in one thing - your money. And lots of it.

    ding ding ding ding
  • sweetmelissa222
    sweetmelissa222 Posts: 290 Member
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    I definitely agree with doing charity walks/runs (shout out to Great Strides which raises money for Cystic Fibrosis). I wouldn't blanket all races done by these organizations as bad, they don't donate nearly as much as completely charitable organizations, but why not do a mix of the fun runs and the charity ones to keep it feeling fresh.

    aephidano59, we were at the NOLA one. We were in the second release as well, we probably would have been better off going later like you all. I was so worried about getting there late and being in one of the last groups. It was definitely hotter than I expected, I figured it would be warm, but I also underestimated. I do hope that they make some changes because I think with more organization it could be a really fun event.

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