The other worst 5K ever

There's this thing called the Rave Run. It's a night-time run with music and lights, and it looked cool. Plus, we got a Groupon for it, so it was only $25.

We arrived downtown only to discover that the race wasn't where we thought it was. Great, we'll walk! At least we got good scenery.

Buckingham Fountain in the pre-season.

Once we arrived on the grounds, it became painfully obvious that we were lucky to have paid half price. Honestly, they should have had to pay me to participate. It was horrible. Not well organized at all and just an absolute mess. We did, however, get cool glowing stuff to wear.

Meat Rand, me and Diane Rand

The only way a poorly run race is worth the time and effort is through friends who are in it with you. My friends almost made this horrific night worthwhile. But only almost.

Me and Pam

As we stood around in the late-spring chill, getting colder by the moment, a DJ played. It was pretty much all bass, so I couldn't tell you if the music was any good or not. We desperately wanted to have a good time, but we were having to work way to hard to get that.

Diane, Pam and Linda, suited up for a glowing good time.

The venue was pretty enough - Chicago's lakefront - but the original location at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum was a unique choice, and an area I haven't run in before. That would have been nice, but they changed to a location to accommodate the large number of registrants. Had it been my call, I would have kept it small. They didn't ask me.

Miss Emily, my former roommate and newest run bud. This was our first run together!

All told, we had a nice enough time, but it wasn't worth the hassle. And after all that, I have no time to report, because it wasn't a timed race. Ergo, I highly recommend not doing a Rave Run if they come to your area. They billed it as "3.1 miles of lights and music" and they sure didn't make good on the promise. There were hardly any lights at all, and very little music. The highlight of the evening was making it back to Schaumburg for food. 

Which is to be expected.

I am aware that this entire post sounds like I'm bitching, and I apologize for that. But at least we have some cute photos to make up for it!