First Thursday - March 6, 2014

The kick-off of the 2014 running season in Portland is officially underway!  Last night was the first First Thursday event through Fit Right (FR).  This scavenger hunt through NW Portland brings together runners and walkers and sets them loose on the streets.  Arrive to find cars parked everywhere bearing those familiar oval stickers with 13.1, 26.2 or even specific race stickers (Rock 'n Roll Portland was a popular one) and runners milling around wearing varying shades of neon colors.

Marilyn and I are sporting our New Balance High-Visibility Neon Jackets

At 6pm on the nose, the MAP is released on Facebook and on a large white-board.  Runners jockey for positions to get close enough to take a photo and then we're off - typically scattering in all directions clustered in small groups.

The map reveal!

 

 Stopped for a sample of frozen yogurt from Twist before grabbing our raffle tickets!

  

Each group will have one or two navigators, some with the photo on their smartphones, some with the intersections jotted down on a scrap of paper, some with maps they preprinted and brought with them and then marked with the stops.  The idea is to run to as many of the stops as you can and collect a raffle ticket from each one. The raffle starts at 7pm so you need to back at the starting location and have your raffle tickets organized and 1/2 put into the large ticket bins before it starts.  Each month has different vendors at the event and most of them put something into the raffle as well as a few of the stores we visit along the scavenger hunt.  FR always has a few things to raffle off and/or throw into the audience (a big favorite is socks! this event had lots of beer cozies and a few t-shirts).  You can earn additional raffle tickets by purchasing an event t-shirt at the beginning of the season (this year its a super-soft blue short sleeved t-shirt - you can see the back of it in the map photo).  So, mark your calendars and join the crowd for the First Thursday from March-September with Fit Right!

Apparel Review:  This was my first run in the New Balance High-Visibility Neon Jacket.  Marilyn and I were visible, but I think it was more because of the neon color and reflective striping on the jacket as opposed to our "tiger stripes" of glow in the dark areas.  The visibility is designed in three stages (low light is the coral color, oncoming light are the reflective strips and no-light is the glow in the dark accents).  We didn't get the opportunity to test the glow in the dark sections - they probably work great if you're running in pitch black but we were in the downtown area and there is plenty of ambient light from streetlamps and stores.  The jacket is super stretchy which I love.  It doesn't breathe very well if you tend to run hot, but I was fine for our ~3 mile run with stops.  It has two front pockets with zippers, which held my iPhone as we ran tonight (would bounce around a bit too much on a serious run through).  Nice long length, and it dips down in the back to cover your bum - a feature I always love.  Sleeves are a bit long, which would be great if they have thumb-holes, but sadly they do not.  The price tag is a bit steep - $175 but both Marilyn and I were able to snag ours on the clearance rack at our LRR (Local Running Retailer) for 50% off.  Am I happy I purchased it?  Yes.  Would I pay full price for it? No. In summary, it's a gimmicky jacket, but still cute and wearable for runs.