Have you ever thought you were doing a race, told lots of people, got your kit ready…and then realised you didn’t actually register?
The lovely PR team for the Trick or Treat Run in Richmond had sent me a code to sign myself up, and I was supposed to sign my friends up when I registered so it was very embarrassing when I went online yesterday only to discover that entry had closed. We decided to go along and try to sign up on the day, and they were very accommodating, especially since we hadn’t taken the mile and a bit walk from the car park to the start into account so were very very late.
We started the 5K dead last. No one on the route in front of us or behind us. It was seriously foggy which really added to the spooky atmosphere, and I felt like I was in one of those apocalypse films where everything is deserted.
It was a little awkward going through the pumpkin cheer station on our own but the volunteers were so friendly – sorry for the blurry photos, we were desperately trying to catch up to run with other people!
Every kilometre or so there would be a station, whether it was the pumpkin patch, a water station or this zombie infested area. This zombie chased us for a while, and I think Emily and I were genuinely scared when some other zombies appeared from behind the screens. I certainly screamed out loud and ran a little faster!
I didn’t want to push the pace too much with my knee (or a few hills- I have definitely not run hills for a while) so let Emily forge ahead while Tom and I kept running at a decent speed. By this point we had caught up with the back of the pack of 5K runners, with plenty of families out with children. There were some incredible costumes and it was so fun to see Mums and Dads (actually a lot of Dads) out running with their kids. There was also a 2K run option which was full of younger children in fancy dress!
Very creepy out on the course in the fog, even when we did catch up with some other runners!
Running along the home stretch we were given the choice of a Treat or Trick finish, of course we chose Trick. Sadly this meant we had to fish around in some slime to retrieve a coin that we could swap for our medals.
The fun pumpkin medals were totally worth it!
I would have thought that their might be more tricks and treats along the way, perhaps at each ‘stop’. There were a lot of people walking and a lot of children, so I wonder if doing some activities along the way, like apple bobbing, might have made it more fun for them!
I loved the later than usual start (11.30 for the 5K), and the fact that they had another race in the afternoon to ensure the course wasn’t too crowded and that it wasn’t too hard to get to Richmond Park for those that live far away!
Tom and I were given complimentary entry to the race, however Emily paid for her entry and I will definitely be doing the 10K with a big group of friends next year! It was such a lovely, fun race, and with £25 entry for the 10K or 5K it’s definitely better value to do the longer distance!
Looks like a fun race to do, although like you say, they could add a few more fun things to do along the course. Great idea to have a second run later in the day.