Foam Glow 5k Run Reviews

This run was ghetto, unorganized, and staffed with unprofessional buttholes. At check-in they did not even scan our tickets and charged us 5$ for picking up tee shirts. They served hot water at water stations. Their "colored foam" was pretty much dish soap with food dye. Their sad ass foam cannons and foam stations barely had any foam. PARKING WAS HORRIBLE! It took us an hour and a half to park. We arrived 2hrs before the run started and still waited in their crappy parking situation. They had you enter Sam Houston Parkway only to exist it to park in the back for 10$. Also, half of the items we bought for this run did not even work. For example, neon sunglasses worked for about an hour, liquid neon paint did not work, and the neon wrist band did not work! The lamest run I have ever participated in.

I have highlighted hair which is now pink. Hair stylist afraid to touch it. How do i remove this? Tried shampoo,wash liquid,and degreaser, Nothing works. Very very embarrassing. Organizers should get sued. No warnings given.

All of the pictures on their media show people running through awesome blacklight landscapes, slathered with neon paint, walking around festival-style with vendors and lots to do, so we naturally assumed that this is what our experience would be, too, but this event delivered on NONE of these points.

When we arrived there was NO event staff in sight to tell us where to go, and just a flag that said "start" with a long, empty track. We were afraid we had missed the race entirely because it was so quiet and barren, but we kept going. We reached a serpentine of cones and ribbon-- no blacklight, no paint, no foam, no anything except for pavement-- for about a mile, which we started skipping over again after a few minutes because we just couldn't believe that this was part of the race. We eventually headed for the only gate in sight, which had foam and blacklight on it, which was fun for 2 or 3 minutes, but when we started jogging out again, we only found more tightly wound tracks made with cones and ribbon on pavement and dirt, some of which were knocked over and seemed to fork into separate directions, and as there were NO signs or arrows or event staff or anything else to guide us, we just had to guess and wander around trying to follow others until we found the second foam gate, which was exactly like the first one, and was also the LAST one. So, literally, the ENTITE 5k was just a poorly laid ribbon-and-cone track over a large parking lots with TWO foam gates, and absolutely NOTHING else. The final gate was just lit-up in red and had a "finish" flag, not even with more foam or anything at all at the end. We were confused and frustrated, so we wandered over to the stage, hoping the rest would be better.

Unfortunately, even the after-party was a let-down. We definitely weren't the only ones confused as tons of people in the audience would smile as they came into the crowd, then quickly settle in to just stand there with an "is this it?" look on there face, as an occasional blast of foam would be shot directly into the crowd (which we got to inhale a fair amount of because for some reason shooting it slightly OVER the crowd didn't seem to occur to anyone in the event staff.) The music was pretty much what I expected but with very uninspired DJs and mediocre sound. We were also dodging people with strollers in the dance area (seriously) and the highlight was getting to infrequently tap one of two beach balls that would sometimes float over. We bounced around for a few minutes, but became bored pretty quickly and left hardly an hour after getting there.

All of the e-mails leading up to the event said there would be food and drink available onsite (which I guess must have been generic reminders), but the day before our run, they sent the same e-mail but with the food/drink section saying that there would be no alcohol at the venue-- A small detail for us, but still pretty unprofessional. They also gave us running bibs, but there were no photographers at the event and we had no race chips, so I can only assume the bibs were to make everything appear more legitimate than it really was. There were no vendors at all, just a string of registration tents and a photo booth with a Foam Glow 5k background. It was absolutely not worth $20, which I had been to believe by the advertising was a great deal.

From other's reviews, some of the Foam Glow events sound like get can be great, but my guess is that they really skimp on everything severely when they know the crowd will be smaller. I understand scaling down to accommodate for less people, but to deliver less than what your customers were promised and paid for is completely unprofessional and unfair, regardless of the expected turn-out. I will never be participating with any event this company or series puts put again-- I've done several runs like this in the past, and couldn't believe how terrible this was.

my hair is fing pink dude

This was the second fun run we had done this month. The pre party and after party where great but also free. I was disappointed with the course for the simple fact lack of foam stations and the water they offered wasn't just warm but HOT like it was sitting in the sun all day and here I was drinking it at 10pm. Also, no where on the site when singing up is there a warning to us blonde about the potential to dye our hair pink. I have tried every home remedy with no luck and now have to resort to paying a professional. Had I known there was a risk I would have worn a hat or something. The bubble run we participated in the week before left only our shoes stained which we figured. I fully expected for the pink to wash out atleast after 2 washes but NO. All in all I will not be returning!

Registration for early birds: 20$
Registration for everyone despite supposed price increase: 20$

Online registrations "fee": 5$
Parking: 10$

Sandwich from food truck: 7$

Child sized sweet tea from car: 2$ (Did not expect to get 6 oz for 2$ o.O)

Fee to pick up packet on site: 5$ (Found this out after registering or would not have been doing this race! As someone who works, I can't drive to the race sites which are usually 30 minutes + away on a weekday just to pick up materials. I don't mind waiting in line and showing up early, but being charged for it as a penalty fee? Yuck. From reading other reviews, I gather this is the only or one of the only companies to charge for this!)

Course: In our case it was a race track so turf varied from asphalt track to sort of paved (hard to see) road and dirt path behind the track/stadium. There were many, many unmarked holes and changes. There were cones with reflective strips that did not have any reflecting going on at all because there were no lights to mark them. On the back stretch there was a steep embankment on the left side which meant anyone trying to pass the many many people walking and ignoring directions to stay on the right. (A pet peeve of mine is this even on leisure runs because even power walkers don't want to have to navigate constantly around four or five people talking and selfie-ing).

I saw lots of kids and I would not bring my child just because of the uneven turf and many holes/dips. I also wouldn't bring any underprepped (or inebriated) adults. Even cautious and experienced runners could easily fall here.

Hydration stations: Mini bottles of water handed out midway through race (only a trashcan there though so had to chug or carry bottle to end). Lots of them were then littered on course and dangerous/invisible waiting for people to step on. Water not chilled.

Foam color: Didn't sting me at all, tasted awful when showering, definitely dyed my blonde hair with highlights - I now have pink highlights. I'm okay with it... but assurances it will wash out do not take into account light hair or color treated hair with highlights/lighteners used. Beware!

The before/after party has a cool dj, and yes, it's fun. .. but honestly you could do that without paying and no one is closely looking for bibs!

I would not pay between 40 and 50$ to do this again. I had fun because of the friends I was with and a decision to make the best of it - but this probably won't be a repeat race for me- at least not a paid one!

Lots of foam, great music, overall not bad. Warning however to Blondes.....YOUR HAIR WILL DYE PINK!!! A SIMPLE WARNING WHEN SIGNING (just even say it might dye light hair) UP SO THAT I COULD HAVE TAKEN PRECAUTIONS AND WORN A HAT COULD HAVE SAVED ME ALMOST $200 AT THE SALON AND DAYS OF HUMILIATION. I am a professional and pink hair is unacceptable. Won't consider again. :(

None of these reviews are accurate.. I did this a while back and it was the best night of my life! :-))) 10/10 would recommend

I loved this event don't get my wrong I had lots of fun but people with blonde or light brown hair beware that it stains your hair I've tried washing it a millions times even with tide as well it won't come out also the color is every hard to get off your skin using dish soap should help

The event was organized, but the route was patches of grass, gravel and pavement which I found to be unsafe in the dark. The foam part was great, DJ was not for me (but I am older - not a teen/college student), and glowing in the dark was interesting. However, 4 days later I still have pink hair. I am fine with it staining clothes, as I have participated in mud runs, etc. and you must wear old clothes and shoes that I either wash at a laundry place or throw away. That is fine. My blonde hair, however, is still pink after 5 washes with Dawn dishwashing liquid. I am a little confused as to what to do so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I am a professional and avid runner and enjoy having a great time, but I would rather not have remnants of pink hair. Guess it could be worse though, at least it's not green or yellow!!! Everyone should try it just to say you've done it, but beware as you may leave with your hair a color in which you didn't anticipate!!!

Dear everyone with light brown or blonde hair, do not ever participate in this run. No amount of washing or bleaching can return your hair to its natural hair color. I have spent about a year growing out my light brown hair and after 8 unsuccessful watches, I am forced to cut dye and cut my hair. Furious. Never again.

Reading the above reviews, I think it's only fair to provide perspective. This is a fun event, held most commonly at fairgrounds. That said, the course is going to be a mixture of rough patches and parking lot pavement. The event isn't promoted as a hardcore race, times are not of importance to their target audience (based on organization, location, and marketing). This is perfect for people looking to have fun and exercise. Even more perfect for people who may be insecure in their abilities.

We chose to do this run for fun, as a way to encourage friends and family to get out of their comfort zone and complete a 5k breaking their own personal records. The organization of the event is loose but not horrible for an event of this type, and at this ticket price. The pre/post party is fairly standard (again it's the free part of the event open to the public, so don't expect epic world-class DJs). It's just a good time.

If you need to be reminded, never let any foreign body (foam or powder) get into your eyes or mouth. You don't need an ingredient list, just common self-preservation skills. Some runs require you to wear eye gear or worse yet buy their eye gear, I'm glad that FoamGlow left it up to the individual. I brought glasses to wear while in foam zones. And had no problem even keeping the fresh stitches on my face clear from foam with a little preventative measure.

I ran the foam glow run in Cleveland with a couple of friends of mine. The event took place at the same venue as the annual Irish festival so parking was a disaster and runner got so many dirty looks. The "pre party" featured a dj and some hype guys who played mostly techno music and a couple songs but everything changed often and it seemed like they only had samples of songs and couldn't play the whole thing. Once that ended everyone packed into a small area near the finish line. As we were waiting everyone was really spectulating on where the actual course was because you couldn't really see anywhere and there didn't seem to be much space for a course. They released people in waves and it was horribly unorganized. Runners and walkers were all thrown together. The majority of people were walkers. My friends and I planned on run in the whole course but the pats were so thin that it was really hard to get past people that were walking. The course was also one of the worst I've ever run. It was really terribly planned out with a lot of running in the same place and one part was just a parking lot with 7 or so zig zags across it. The whole course had many pot holes and a couple places had horse poop. Ew! Since the race wasn't timed I kept track on my phone. I checked the time at one point and my friends and I had been running for about 15 minutes and there hadn't been any indication of the first mile and we were definitely past a mile by then. When we crosse the finish line we were utterly confused. As runners who have done many 5ks in the past we felt like the course hadn't gone long enough. as we were speculating this a man turned and told us he used a satellite running app through the race and that it was only 2.6 miles rather than 3.1. Afterwords we stuck around and went to the after party. That was a load of fun! We danced for about an hour and a half. The foam was spraying the whole time where as the preparty only had it speratically. The foam was up over my waist (I'm about 5'4) so the environment probably wasn't the best for younger kids. The got a lot of great pictures. I would suggest that anyone running in one of these races in the future put their phone in plastic wrap or a plastic baggy to keep it safe. At the end of the night all our clothes were dyed pink and yellow. Since we were pretty damp we put plastic disposable table clothes on the seat in my car so that nothing got on it. Overall, the party portions were super fun. The running was really disorganized and disappointing. I did have a lot of fun though.

I am never going to an event put on by this company again. I participated in the blacklight run in Tampa, FL on 6/27/15 at the FL state fairgrounds. This run was so disorganized and so over sold 15,000 people and that's not including the ones who joined that day. It was my first 5K so being excited about it we got there early enough to miss the lines trying to get in (I had a friend that sat in line for 2 hours trying to park) but we didn't get much color powder on us once the race started. We were the 5th or 6th group to go through and by the time we got to the areas they throw powder on you they were out (if we wanted colored powder on us we had to pick it up off the ground and throw it at each other). You didn't see any volunteers on the course helping out. A few black light spots didn't even work. The pot holes were horrible (I walked it and even had problems with them). The paths were hard to see and once you started runners and walkers were mixed together so bad that people were tripping over each other or running in to each other. Someone is going to wind up getting hurt on one of their runs. I expressed my concern on their facebook page and they deleted my statement about it. Blacklight run deleted anything negative on their page and then blocked the people from commenting. Foam glow is also put on by this company and I was going to go to it but after my experience with the Blacklight Run I have decided not to.

Buyer beware! They can cancel the run for any reason and they do not give refunds! They don't respond to emails or Facebook messages! You are out of luck and it is money in their pockets in the name of Charity!

My take on the Foam Glow 5K event in Nashville on May 9, 2015. This has also been filed as a formal review with the BBB.

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A warning to anyone considering the Foam Glow 5k Runs...

The Nashville event and the response of 1N3 LLC in relation to concerns has soured me entirely on ever being involved in another of the company's runs. Instead of responding to concerns, they have resorted to deleting any negative comments from their Facebook page and are not being transparent about the risk participants take. I am now seeking out avenues for posting reviews to which they have no deletion abilities.

I have heard great reviews of the pre-party before the party, but because of the 17,000+ other people there, we couldn't even get close to the stage. The race course itself was a major issue. It wound around the property at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, which was not a suitable location for a 5K. We walked on a mixture of asphalt, uneven grass with holes hidden in the grass and by the dark, and gravel pathways composed of large stones several inches thick that were not packed down. Today, I am nursing a very painful knee/ankle injury caused by stepping into one of the hidden holes.

The course itself was very poorly marked and there were several areas where people bottle-necked. We had to wait for about 10 minutes to make it through an opening in the fence at one point, where traffic was going in both directions.

Today, my eyes still sting from the foam getting into them, and when I showered last night and some of the water ran into my mouth, the taste was horrendous. I am truly concerned about what exactly was in the foam, becuase no one bothered to release an MSDS sheet of ingredient list.

There was very poor traffic control getting out of the park after the run and people were sitting for quite some time in their attempt to leave. There were only 3 foam stations around the actual course, when the event was hyped up to be so much more. There was very little lighting and it was only sporadic, contributing to the dangerousness of the course itself.

The foam itself STAINS. Not only clothes -- that is to be expected. However it will also stain hair. I know of one woman with pink hair this morning, and another with neon orange. It was said the colors will easily wash out of hair, but that is not the case.

This event was VERY poorly executed and I have serious questions about whether they actually do donate some of the hundreds of thousands they made to the local children's hospital, as is vaguely advertised on their website. I hope the experiences of runners in other cities is different because in Nashville, our experiences were not good.

Barely any Foam at all....No organization...people were walking on top of each other.....because the course gets so arrow. Someone needs to get help from other 5k's to see how they are really done.