London at night

My last post talked a bit about my ongoing health problems. If you’ve not read that bit, the short story is that sometimes I can’t run due to another infection and this April it meant missing my race in Slovakia. However, I did complete the Electric Run at the end of the month, so I’m technically still on track for a race a month.

 

 

The Electric Run™ is a time 5k run/walk experience, where runners are an integrated part of the race, or “the show” as they like to say on their website, “Featuring immersive “Lands” of light and sound that transport the participant into an electric wonderland, Electric Run promises to transport the mind, body and soul to a new world in a healthy and drug-free way. Participants are encouraged to join in on the art by lighting up with glow sticks, LEDs and anything else their imagination can conjure up.”

Being in London meant I didn’t have to travel away for the weekend and could be reasonably relaxed about the whole thing. I booked my place, ordered my “glo-pack” and waited for the night to fall. True to form I prepared for this race as meticulously as ever, by attending a rugby match and carb-loading with chips and beers. And performing a minor striptease on the platform at Finchley Road as I swapped from my day clothes into my running gear (it was four minutes until the train was due, plenty of time…).

I met my friend Zoltan at Wembley, gave him his race pack and hit our first real snag- when I picked up Zol’s race pack for him they had inadvertently given me two ladie’s t-shirts instead of a men’s for Zol. Although highly stylish, the tee was like a tourniquet to his torso and we had to abandon it before the start of the race. Thankfully, Zol hadn’t been sure I was bringing him a t-shirt at all and had made one to wear, modelled at the start of this article above.

Zoltan is another old colleague, from my days in the Critical Care Unit, at King’s College Hospital in south London. Me and CCU did not go together very well, but I still have some great memories and great friends from my time there. Zol is a keen runner (currently training for a triathlon!) and joined me at the Color Run last summer too.

The Electric Run winds it’s way round and around Wembley Stadium, in a mostly circular route. This was a great idea as it allowed for the music to heard all over the course, and you could see a stream of neon people circling the stadium in layers.

In terms of racing, the race is more of a fun run than a personal best time sort of run. There were stations all around the course where you could stop for a photo and a dance, even the water station was luminescent. There were lots of groups running and more than a few families running with kids/pushing buggies. All in all, a good fun atmosphere and there was a party in the car park at the end- complete with DJs, beer vans and pizza. The only down side was no medals at the finish line, but I have plenty of photos to remember it by and it was a great experience to get me back running and lift my spirits.