The Bubble Run (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

This past Saturday I had done the Bubble Run.  This is something one of my friends wanted to do and asked me to join her.  We signed up for it last spring.  It's a traveling race, like most color runs, that put on the same race in different cities several times a month.


This past week I knew it was coming up and, honestly, I really was dreading it.  I just wasn't in the mood for a race, and really just wanted to hang out this past weekend and not do much of anything.  There was packet pickup on Friday and I told myself if my friend, Beverly, didn't contact me about it, I wouldn't bother with the race.  There was no way I was doing it on my own.

Friday had happened and I hadn't heard anything all day.  So I didn't plan on picking up my packet.  And then at 8 PM Friday night I heard from my friend.  She asked if I was doing the race tomorrow and I replied, "It's tomorrow?"  She said that she hadn't texted me earlier since she was in the Bahamas and had no cell service.  I really didn't feel bad for her at all.

So we made plans on carpooling and heading out there the next morning.  She was going to pick me up after her friend Ellen and be to my house sometime after 7, so I planned on being ready at 7.  The race was taking place at the Racetrack, which is across town.  As we drove there we talked about the race and wondered if it would be on the actual track.  I didn't think it would, but if it were I don't know if I'd like it as the track is banked and makes it hard on my knee.

We got to the Racetrack and found out that it was $10 per car to park.  Seriously?!?  It's not like it was limited to parking and trying to get people to carpool.  We asked the lady taking the money if it went to the charity of the race.  She said yes, but I still wonder if it really did.

Beverly had her packet mailed to her.  She got the wrong size shirt and didn't get the tutu that she ordered.  Both Ellen and I had to pick up our packet.  I showed my ID and he asked if I had the email to scan.  Huh?  Really, you can't type my name in.  He finally did when I just flat out said no.  Then they told us there was a $5 fee for picking up our packet on race day.  Gug, talk about gouging for every penny we had.  It made it feel like a runDisney race. :)  I got the shirt, headband, and tattoo that came with the packet.  I asked about the bib and he said they ran out.  What?!?  How do you run out of bibs for the registered runners?  Would we still be let into the race?


We went to the merchandise tent to get Beverly's tutu.  Apparently the extra merchandise that was being sold online was not sent to your house if you requested the packet to be mailed.  So she picked it up, but they didn't have pink, which is what she ordered.  Again, how do you run out of things that are pre-ordered?


We headed back to the car to drop things off and put on the race shirt.  I didn't want to wear it as it was cotton and it was getting hot out.  But I wanted to make sure I cold get into the starting corral without being questioned.


We headed to the port-a-potties for a last bathroom break and noticed that no one was checking for a bib.  So basically if you happened to be around and wanted to do the race, you wouldn't of had to sign up for it.


There were waves that were being let go about 5-10 minutes apart.  We just got up in line and waited our turn.  We saw two waves be let go before it was our turn.  They were letting the bubbles build up so that everyone would be able to run through them and not just the people in the middle.  Once it was filled up enough they had us go.


I have to admit, going through the bubbles were fun and it was lifting my mood.  They were soft and felt a little wet, but really was fun.  Once we were through the bubbles we had just a road to continue on.  No sight of any other bubbles that we could see from there.  Most people were walking, but we decided to run.  My friends had said that they were "out of shape" and that we all would stick together.  I told them that my peak was normally slow and I'm so far from my peak.  So I was usually about 5 steps behind them.

We came up to the first bubble color.  It was just like the bubbles from the start, but it was pink.  So we just run through and play with it and we are back out to the road of the run.  I thought there would be more of an obstacle type thing, but it was just bubbles dropping from above.


We were back on the actual course.  We were now on the field area where people park, so we were running mostly on a rocky trail.  I became even slower and even walked more of it.  At this point my friends mostly stuck with me.

We got to the second color, green.  Again, it was the same thing of bubbles dropping from above with green color to it.  We played around a little in this and headed on.  There was a water stop right after the green.  So we grabbed some water and rinsed off our hands and headed on.


We saw that there were people cutting through the field to save some of the mileage.  We were thinking of doing the same, but there was a part that we couldn't see beyond the trees that we decided to go along the path.  And of course when we got to the other side of the trees, there was no other bubble color.  We got back to the main field area and came across the third color, blue.  Not much to say about it, except same bubbles, different color.

The other two kept running and I just kinda had it with running, so at that point I just walked and let them go ahead of me.I did take a shortcut across the field while they ran the long way, which was fine with me.  We got to the blue bubbles and again just bubbles that fell from above.  At this point I was kinda getting bored of it all.  My IT Band was getting tight and I didn't want to push it and run too much more, especially on uneven trails.  So I would run a little and walk a lot.


We got to the yellow bubbles and both Ellen and I just walked through them with no playing.  Ellen said that she just didn't like yellow and I said I was just bored.  It really was getting hot at this point and doubly so with the cotton shirt on.  We knew that we were towards the end.  Beverly and Ellen kept running and there were no way I could take another short cut because there were fences around at this point.  I just let them take off and I just walked and took my time.

 

I assumed that they finished up without me so I stopped and took pictures and really was not worried about them.  And then I looked toward the finish and there they were waiting for me.  If I would have known they were gonna wait for me, I wouldn't have dilly-dallied.  The three of us crossed the line together.


We joined the after party, which really was a lot more fun then the race.  They had bubbles being shot at the crowd from both sides and you could tell the kids were having a ton of fun.  We got our finish picture.


Beverly wanted to get a "fun" picture of the three of us, so we walked into the foam and jumped around to get a fun picture.


Beverly insisted on getting a picture of me, since I had been the one taking pictures the whole race.  She was worried that I wasn't going to be in any, even though I told her I got plenty of selfies.  I stood by one of the cannons that was shooting the bubbles and the guy controlling it kept hitting the back of my head with the bubbles.  It just made me laugh as they were taking pictures of me.


We all had enough at that point and called it a day.  We headed to Starbucks for refreshments and chit chat before the fun came to an end.


My final thoughts on the race....
For a traveling race that is put on several times a month, it was very disorganized.  Running out of bibs for those that had already signed up is the most disorganized that I've ever seen a race.  I get it if you don't have bibs for those doing race day registration, but we had been registered since April.

It was a bit boring.  But I think that's a bit on my side.  I wasn't in a race mood to start with, but I also thought there were obstacles and not just bubbles being dropped on us.  The after party was so much more fun then the bubble stations during the race.

Race day add-on charges really made me feel like I was being ripped off.  Granted, I only paid $20 for the race (plus $650 handling fees), but the tack on of parking (and you couldn't park anywhere else) and race day packet pickup felt a bit over the top.

But I did have fun with a couple of friends.  I probably wouldn't do this particular race again, but it was fun to do it once.

Have you done The Bubble Run (or other traveling races)?  Have you done a race where they ran out of things for pre-registered participants that they shouldn't have run out of?  Do you get annoyed with those extra, out of the blue, fees?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.