The Neon Run

On Saturday March 23, 2013, I ran my second 5K. I was with my younger sister and her best friend, as well as my stepmother and her boyfriend. The Neon Run promised to be a mind-blowing experience with neon glow paint and blacklights, music and a colorful after party.

My only goal for the night was to PR. Not by much, but I wanted to beat my 57 minute time from my first 5K. Needless to say, I felt a bit crushed when I checked my time after crossing the finish line and saw 59 minutes had gone by since we started the run.

As it turns out, my disappointment was misplaced. I had forgotten to consider that there were several points where we experienced a bottleneck effect and I was unable to move very quickly. Additionally, my sister wanted to walk, so that affected my time. Most importantly, it turns out the course wasn't properly measured, so we actually ran an extra half-mile! Given these circumstances, I certainly felt a bit better about my time.

Besides all that, the Neon Run was meant as a fun run, so time wasn't important anyways (I'm just an over-achiever). I'd like to say it was fun, and in some ways it was. I went through about half the course with my whole group, and I ran most of the last half with my stepmom's boyfriend. The run was poorly organized and had a few issues, so running was the only thing to focus on. I was pretty proud knowing I pushed myself and even though there was a lack of neon, my face was glowing anyways.

I don't want to spend much time talking about the race (the organizers have been beat up enough on their Facebook page). I like to think that they learned from their mistakes and will correct those mistakes for future races.

At the end of the day, I learned two things. The first is that I'm stronger than I think. That was the farthest I've run ( and/or walked), and I lived! The second is that it's not all about a PR at the end of the day. Sometimes a run means more than that, and that's okay.

Happy running!

Until next time...