I am thankful that I won the entry to the Electric Run OC through RaceGrader. My friend had to pay $55 for her entry and I don’t think she was too happy at the end of the evening. Besides the entry fee, all the participants put down some extra cash for all the light-ups they were wearing.
The race is held at night and was set to start at 7 p.m. We got there early enough that we were in the first few hundred to enter the starting chute. It was interesting to see all the different ways people had decorated themselves with glo-sticks. At 7:10 p.m. we were still standing in the starting chute and some people around us started to yell. A few people wearing black hoodies outlined in glo-sticks came out on the raised dias and danced around. I guess that was suppose to take our minds off the fact that the run had not started and it was cold and it was drizzling. Then they threw a lot of huge balls out into the waiting crowd which entertained some for another several minutes. Finally, Carmen Electra (why didn’t we see that coming?) came out and counted down to start the run.
I keep typing in race, and then have to go back and change it to RUN because there was NO race. Everyone was wearing a bib, but it was just token. No one was chipped and nothing was timed. There were no winners, no awards, no real finish line.
We ran up and down through the parking lot at the Orange County Fair Grounds. We ran through the muddy arena. We ran through Centennial Farms on the grounds, though you really couldn’t see anything because it was dark. We walked through some places where the water had gathered in BIG puddles and we walked on lots of slippery pavement. My friend and I decided that since this RUN wasn’t timed and no one was keeping track, it definitely was not worth trying to hurry through the course and slip and fall and hurt ourselves – something I did see several people do.
I do give kudos to the way the Electric Run used lighting to psychadelically light our way. My favorite was the swirling images on the trees.
This RUN is not for the serious minded, but it is a nice, fun way for families with children to get involved in a physical activity. I saw lots of families with small children running – children as young as 3 and 4, which made it a little dangerous when college-aged runners came plowing through. There were lots of parents pushing strollers. There were lots of younger people walking and jogging through the course.
For the cost of the entry and the cost of all the glow-stick paraphernalia, I recommend one just buy themselves a good reflective running vest and some lights, grab some friends and run around your neighborhood, hopefully, for more than just one night.
