| Last summer, I ran the Color Run in Philadelphia. It was a TON of fun, but a HUGE mess too. I highly recommend it, but I wouldn't do it again. This year, I was so excited to sign up for the Electric Run - all of the fun of the Color Run, but NO MESS! The hype leading up to the run was great - The Electric Run Facebook page kept posting great pics from other races, and I couldn't help but plan the perfect photo ops along the route. Philadelphia had a major heat wave last week, and although they were calling for rain on Saturday, there was not a drop all day. |  |
My friends and I started the night out at Derek's in Manayunk (a favorite of mine) for a pre-race dinner. At around 7:00pm, we headed over to the park to light ourselves up and see what this Electric Run was all about. The race parking was at the Mann Music Center, where there was also a concert going on at the same time, so it was a little hectic getting through the traffic and finding the right place to park, but by 7:45pm, we were parked and snapping our glow sticks, glow necklaces, glow bracelets and even glow earrings and glasses! It was still super hot and sticky, but there is always something about a huge race crowd that gets me pumped up.
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We walked around the race area a little, met up with a few more friends, and made our way over to the start line. Since this wasn't a timed race, you just lined up, and the race officials were letting you go in waves about every minute. We were inching our way towards the start line as we saw the first strike of lightning. Nervous about the soon-to-be torrential downpour, we continued to inch our way forward.
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At around 9:15pm, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker that the City of Philadelphia has shut down the race! We couldn't really hear the announcement at first, and didn't really believe it, but after the turned off the music, we knew it was true. Feeling defeated, we made our way back to our car. Luckily, since we were so close to the start line, we were some of the first to find out about the cancellation and consequently some of the first to get back to our car. We didn't have too much trouble getting out of the parking lot, and we were back in Manayunk, sipping on some white sangria before the rain hit! The Electric Run posted to their Facebook page that we should "stay tuned" to details about rescheduling the race. Although we were incredibly disappointed about the cancellation, we understand that safety comes first. It would have helped the crowd if there was a better way to make the announcement - I just hope I'm in town for when the race is rescheduled!
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Have you ever showed up for a race that got cancelled just before you were about to cross the start line?
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