So I went to the Blacklight Run. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of the color run, but it's basically the same thing as that, except AT NIGHT! Which makes everything all the more exciting, right? And, instead of just being colorful, the powder they throw on you while they run is actually blacklight powder, a neon, glow-in-the-blacklight kinda thing. It appears totally innocent once somebody shines a blacklight on you, then the whole thing glows and it's just really awesome.
But back to the whole out of character thing: I signed up back in the summer, when I had no summer school because I was a first year and had no idea how to petition for classes or even what petitioning was. I didn't want a prospect-less summer, so when my best friend pitched the idea of a blacklight run, all I heard was glow in the dark and nighttime and being around good company, so I immediately thought, YEAH OKAY THAT MEANS I'LL HAVE SOMETHING FUN TO DO THIS SUMMER! I don't know why it didn't occur to me that even though signups were in the summer, we weren't going until October. Also, it's only 5k. So I thought, okay, 3 miles, that's not that bad. I can walk 3 miles! It wasn't until I got there that I thought, "what did I get myself into oh my goodness how do I leave?!"
Hey, I made it out alive though! So this is me and a bunch of my friends pre-run, when the sun was still out...
Naturally, I'm the least athletic-looking one, the one with no ponytail closest to the right of the left picture and then I'm the one in the middle of the second picture. It's okay, I have short hair as an excuse to not tie my hair up. And no, it wasn't just a bunch of girls! Here's our whole group, (there's me in the middle!)
It was originally going to be a smaller group, but because it interfered with our church time, (we have service Saturday nights for youth at my church because our Sunday service is too overcrowded) we decided to expand and make it a church event. We're a really small church with only about 30-40 people in our youth service, so this is about half of us at the run. Again, this is pre-run! The wait for the run was so incredibly long and when it finally began, there was no official sign, or gunshot, or a guy yelling "OKAY GO!" so it was actually very confusing they just began herding a bunch of us (there were THOUSANDS. I overheard someone say there were 14,000 people there and I'm not sure if that's true but there were a LOT of people there) towards another area and somewhere along the way the run began and half the people didn't know that so half were walking and half were running.
And finally, THIS was the after effect of the run:
The picture on the right is how it looks under the blacklight. THAT POWDER WAS CRAZY. There were "powder stations" about two or three times during the run where you'd be running and you run under an arch and there are volunteers or workers next to it who throw powder into the air and chase you and throw it on you and it's pretty awesome but it got on EVERYTHING. I took a shower when I got home and when I scratched my head my fingers came back bright pink, which was a little alarming. Also, that powder made people a little mad. Some guy threw some into HIS OWN MOUTH because "I want my mouth to glow!" Now that's a little insane. After the run, every runner was eligible to pick up your very own "powder pack" and people were running around on the field (this part was just for fun though) having powder fights and going crazy. One girl straight up came to me, took some powder out of her bag, smeared it across my chest, smiled, and walked away. It was the most bizarre thing.
Maybe it was the blacklight after-party that made all the runners a little hyped up, too. The party started right after most of the first wave of runners were out, and there was a stage, and a DJ, and it was REALLY loud and they'd throw glow sticks and rings and bracelets and free blacklight shirts and all sorts of goodies out. It was incredibly tiring. But a really great experience that I'm glad I was a part of.
Also, another bonus, a big chunk of the proceeds go into helping with children's cancer! So it was a run for fun, for helping children, and also to have a really great time. My hips and calves and thighs and almost all of me is sore, but it was worth it. I'm really glad I attended!
Joy ☼
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