Fresno Foam Glow Run

March 26, 2022 

Danielle pointed out to me that it's been since she was in high school the last time she and I did a Color Run together. (She has since graduated from college.) I didn't realize it had been that long! I think in the past we have done 4 Color Runs, and they have always been a lot fun--vibrant, loud, energetic, and of course, colorful. I also like that the runs (I should put 'runs' in quotation marks, since I do not run the full 5k--there is very definitely a lot of walking involved, too) give back to the community here in Fresno. The ones we have done in the past have benefitted Valley Children's Hospital, which I am all in for. So when I saw an email not long ago about an upcoming Foam Glow run, I asked Danielle if she would be back in Fresno during that time and if she'd like to do it with me. She was game, so I got us registered. Well, let me tell you, this event was definitley NOT run by the same folks who organize a good Color Run. It was out at the fairgrounds on the horse track at night. This was because, presumably, there would be glow-in-the-dark foam throughout the course. Nope. Turns out, when we go to a color run, they provide the color that they shower down on us as intervals as part of the fun. Here, they had five stations set up around the (very poorly marked, and mostly not paved) 5k path. The stations had two towers each of suds that rained down in soapy streams of pretty standard white foam that slid right off the body--no staying power. Also, it was not in the least glowy. There was nothing that glowed in the dark except for the glow sticks of the people who had purchased them on their own to bring to the event. (There was nothing indicating that we should do this on the website or in the registration. I assumed there would be something about the Foam Glow event that did, in fact glow. I didn't know I had to provide it myself!) Each of those tower stations had tiny speakers that meekly played a slightly thumping beat that faded out of earshot about 20 paces past the towers. No water stations along the way, and no humans helping to direct the zig-zagging path. The huge dance party at the finish line? It was nowhere to be found. The organizers and the DJ's hyping the event and making sure things were fun and ran smoothly? I saw literally one dude at the starting line, portioning off the runners so we didn't trample each other out the gate, like a herd of wild horses on the track. That was it. That being said, Danielle and I have a habit of snark and sass, and this provided a perfect opportunity for us to provide running commentary that at the very least amused us. As Danielle said, we make our own fun wherever we go, and this was no exception. Recently I said that sass was the love language between the two of us, and it was definitely in full force at the Foam Glow run. Not much foam, almost zero glow, but lots of good bonding time between my kiddo and me. No regrets.