Blacklight Run – Austin

simply put, it got rained out and they gave each runner an ultimatum. Respond within 24 hours on your only two options of running on Halloween night (over 70 people didn’t show up because we all had plans already…) or run in San Antonio on the 11^th.
So even if we were able to go to the one on the 11^th, if we didn’t see the email because we were on a road trip or celebrating Halloween, then we couldn’t go because we would have been late to reply.
Instead of giving out an ultimatum which is ridiculous, you should have given each person a voucher redeemable at any blacklight run in the future. We already paid for the run, the least you could do is make sure we are able to run at sometime.
These people are scam artists. They hope that it rains so that they can just take people’s money. Completely sickens me to see this kind of business. I hope they go out of business and someone that knows how to run these comes along.

Heads up to anyone thinking about participating in the Austin Blacklight Run. Be sure you are available any day they may decide to hold the event because they will change it and will not provide refunds. It was originally scheduled for Saturday, October 31, 2015. I received an email stating it had been changed to Friday, October 30, 2015 for «safety» reasons. The registration will begin at 3:15. Obviously the change from weekend to weekday will be a factor for anyone in school or with a weekday job. However, the event organizers refuse to accept any responsibility for issuing refunds because they decided one date was safer than another. Lesson learned. I will certainly not be supporting this event again.

The run was my first blacklight run so I am not sure if my expectations are fair. Pros were spending time with friends and getting exercise. Cons: dark run, not many black light stops during race. Poor direction on walkers towards the right and runners towards left. Not many things to do before and after race unless you wanted to go to the stage and scream for free glow sticks and powder. Parking was horrible. I brought limited cash and a credit card. All cash only (could have missed the memo). Overly crowded and not a safe venue for kids. If there were more lights, better organization and more fun things to do, I would have given a higher rating.

This thing was a complete disaster. It seems like they planned for about 1,000 participants, got 9,000 and just went with it. Bad idea. I don’t need to reiterate everything that’s already been said here. Basically it was about 90% waiting and 10% walking (because it was too crowded to jog) in the pitch black. The lack of water was downright dangerous in the heat. Could have been fun. Should have been fun. Decidedly wasn’t.

I did this race with my 6 year old son. We had fun, and I love racing in the evening so that was nice. I thought the price was right – but will file a report with the BBB if it isn’t verified that a donation was made to Special Olympics Texas, as was advertised.
I agree with everything everyone said and wrote. We waited in traffic about 40 minutes to park – really wish they would spend the money to open a second entrance. The logistics were confusing, and in hind sight, you could probably show up, run the whole race, get a glow pack and have the same experience as anyone else and only spend $ 10 on parking – you don’t really need your tshirt or bib. The course did not seem that safe, and it was frustrating that it was often too crowded to run.
I think they should have advertised that the packet pick up place was in far south Austin. I live in South Austin so it wasn’t too inconvenient for me, but felt sorry for the North Austin folks who had to make that drive or pay an extra $ 5 to pick up at the event.
These glow powder races are a dime a dozen now – I think 3 or 4 more are coming to Austin this year – so Blacklight Run is really going to have to respond to all of their negative Unilocal reviews or find themselves out of business. Even my son said he wouldn’t want to do it again, because we spent too much time waiting.

I’ll echo the other participants from 6÷28÷2014 on this one. I am a fairly patient person, but this one missed the mark. The waiting line for entry was 25 – 30 minutes, then the same to exit. I finally got out of there around midnight.
I had fun –because my friends were there, and everyone was so ready to have fun!
I have some suggestions for the organizers to make this better for everyone:
1. Coordinate with site officials to provide other options for entry /​exit. At $ 10, I expect quality. We didn’t even get a ticket, tag, or anything. Even high school stadiums have a better parking set-​up than what I endured last night.
2. Add lighting along the race course to help direct people. You can pair that with some reflective tape for a better effect. Add banners to indicate the start /​finish line and distance markers. Walking /​jogging down an unfamiliar road in the dark is usually what people do in horror films.
3. Equip the volunteer team in the parking lot and along the race course with lighted vests and or lighted traffic wands. The ones handling money also need a bag or something to hold the cash safely. That way, it doesn’t look like a garage sale gone bad.
4. Provide a lane for participants to have more exercise if they choose. It’s called Blacklight RUN, so some people thought running would be possible at the event.
5. Let the participants SEE the charity we’re supporting. I didn’t see a booth or even get a handout. It makes me think we’re getting swindled.
6. Provide a printed MAP of the race course in the race pack. I really wanted to know important things: Where are the start and finish lines? How can I park in relation to those? How will the crowd flow work? All I got was a t-​shirt and number, which I didn’t really need as it turns out.
7. Choose a packet pick-​up location that is central to the event location. I was not thrilled at having to drive down to Slaughter Lane when I live in north Austin.
That’s my short list.

The Black light run was a quirky Austin like event.
The good: My 13 year old daughter and her friend loved it! she was front and center at the concert covered in color with a big smile on her face! She said it was the most fun she had experienced in weeks. She and her friend easily completed the coarse then inquired about a couple «making out» on the coarse.
The walk out from the event was dark, so I went out to my truck to sit while I waited for my family, I turned on my lights to people watch. I got the biggest laugh watching people exit the event in quirky light devices covered in colored powder. It was like a bright colored zombie apocalypse. The shout out to the child with cancer and her team was special.
The bad: 10.00 to park and no parking slip I case I wanted to exit and return. Only 1 entrance or exit to the event. No place to sit down despite getting there at 6:30 and not leaving until midnight. For the amount of money charged supply some seating. The only beverages available was a $ 7.00 can of beer or a diet drink. We had to pay $ 5.00 per person to pick up our registration packs. The D.J. Was full of self promotion. The same 3 songs were played over and over!
The ugly: I am passionate about charitable giving. As a nurse I have first hand witnessed the challenges families face with handicapped children. Special Olympics is a amazing organization worthy of our donations. I looked to see if the Black Light Run is registered with any of the charity accountability groups, and it is no where to be found. Honest disclosure please!

A fun event that everyone needs to just skip until the organizers can solve their logistical failures. A few black lights and some glow powder can simply never compensate for the complete and total failure this event suffers in terms of arriving, registration, and leaving. More than an hour spent waiting in traffic on arrival, an hour spent picking up race packets and more than an hour waiting to leave the grid locked parking lot. An otherwise great event RUINED by utterly incompetent organization for parking.

UPDATE: Blacklight Run only donated $ 5,000 from the event to Special Olympics. With 9,000 participants paying $ 20 each (not including $ 10 parking or $ 5 packet pick up fees), they donated about $ 0.56 or 2.8% of registration to the nonprofit! DISGUSTING!
ORIGINAL: Blacklight Run was a total waste. A waste of time. A waste of money. A waste of energy. The entire experience sucked so bad people left before they even ran. Traffic was a zoo, guides in the parking lot were rude and unhelpful, there wasn’t any staff around to direct or assist anyone, and the entire 5K was dark except for the 3 blacklight zones. You literally could not see where you were stepping. How is that safe or fun? The crowd was packed in like a herd of cattle, kids were getting separated from their parents, and there wasn’t any well-​lit or «safe» areas to gather. They ran out of glow powder at the stations, you had to wait in line at the end for your packet, and leaving was awful. Walking through the parking lot in the dark afterwards was scary because there weren’t any lights, no way to ID what row you’re parked in, and nobody directing outbound traffic. It was almost like a crappy rave with $ 4 bottled water, bad customer service, and some «exercise» thrown in the mix. The entire thing was a fail.
And to top if off… The organization deleted every «negative» (honest) comment on FB. The epitome of bad customer service.

First off, this is my fist 5k event, so I don’t have another one to compare it to, but I felt like there was an awful amount of waiting. We had to wait in line for almost an hour to even get parked, then after a stop at the port a potties… we had to wait in line for an hour and a half. (and that was only because some team members came early, it would have been a lot longer) We didn’t stay for the after party, just got our glow pacs, took some pictures and left so we could avoid the line out of there. All that waiting wears us and the kids out before we even get started on the run/​walk (we walked) The concept is a neat idea, it was fun to get glowed, but fewer people would have made it more enjoyable for everyone. It is more of a social event I think, Like a club or concert. Not really for kids under 7, Plus we had to pay for parking. That should be included in your registration.

This was not that bad of an event. Being my first 5K, this was just more of having a fun time with friends with serious. IMO, people who took this 5K seriously should not have signed up to do it. This isn’t the Cap10K or Turkey Trot, but rather a get out and do something amazingly fun. My friends and I walked it but there were several people who seemed really perturbed that they we were ‘in their way’. Sorry but this is NOT a real 5K from terms of timing, etc. Ok if you wanna run it for a tune up or whatever, then great, but realize that more people are going to do it for the fun of it rather than anything serious. Its a great event to have kids at regardless of age, but the whole point of this 5K was to have a fun event and just let loose a little. As I said, if you expected this to be a serious 5K, then you signed up for the wrong event.
And parking cost was/​is noted on the webpage for Austin, so it was advertised that you would have to pay $ 10 (cash) to park. One has to keep in mind this is Travis County property and they dictate cost as they rent the facility out, and then its up to the promoter/​organizer to determine costs and what entrants are gonna pay, either you pay your entry fee w/​parking or you pay entry separate and then parking when you get there, you’ll still pay the same. We were in within 5 mins and parked and we left while the after party was still going on and we were out in 5 mins. Where people get 45-​mins to an hour to park are exaggerating a bit. Even getting there early I cannot see that happening.
Just have to feel bad for whomever had to clean up the inside of the Expo Center after all that powder was all over the floor… we stuck around for the after party and reminded me alot of when I used to go down in my early 20s and enjoy 6^th street (before it went to sh*t) techno clubs in the early to mid 90s… everyone was having fun yet not being jerks (guess the jerks left after being pissed at the people who were just walking the course and not taking it as seriously they did).