Several runners were eager to talk to me, including Bruce Freeburger, 69, who drove from Detroit to run this race. Knowing the privacy concerns, Pretzel City’s race director announced before the race that a photographer and I would be covering the event, and that we would include only those runners who consented to being photographed and interviewed. The events are meant to be fun, but the race organizers recognize that there is something of a taboo around nudity, so it anonymizes race results when posting them online, listing participants only by first name, last initial and home state. Pretzel City has been putting on races there for 13 years. It’s private property, so laws against public nudity are not an issue. Most people go about their daily activities wearing nothing but shoes or sandals, maybe a hat.
There’s a pool, spa, volleyball and tennis courts, hot tub, and hiking and biking trails. Sunny Rest was founded as a nudist resort in 1945 and, except for the lack of clothing, looks like a lot of other campgrounds, with mobile homes, cabins, tents and RVs.
“What else do you have to do?” she asked. When a friend who lives in upstate New York said she was 90 percent willing to commit to making the trip to participate in this race, I thought maybe I should go, if for nothing else than to see her. But the idea of a big, outlandish thing that might bump me out of my gloom had a certain draw. I’ve spent five months trying to find glimpses of joy in small, simple things, like the sight of a bird on the tree I planted last year, or the feel of my dog’s very soft ear.
#Sunny rest resort bike ride driver#
In June, my brother was in the hospital for weeks after a driver struck him while he was on a bike ride. In March, four members of my family were sick with Covid-19. But running naked? It seemed so - uncomfortable.Īnd yet: I kept getting the emails about this race, in a year flooded with bad news that had come very close to home. I’ve been to “toptional” pools in Las Vegas, so nudity wasn’t that much of an obstacle. In this pandemic season of covering our faces in public, why not uncover everything else? What a fun way to experience some freedom in a time of pressing fear, grief, restrictions and disappointments.īut I hesitated. I’ve run a handful of Pretzel City’s clothed (or as naked runners call them, “textile”) races, but the nude events never appealed to me, not when there were a zillion other races to run.īut this year, it caught my attention in part because almost all other races have been canceled because of the coronavirus. “Not enough of us do things outside the box anymore, particularly as we get older,” said Ron Horn, race director and co-owner of Pretzel City Sports, which put on the race. That’s because the race was the Bouncing Buns Clothing Optional 5K, held at the Sunny Rest Resort, a nudist resort in Palmerton, Pa. I heard the “Rocky” theme twice along the course.Įxcept the spectators were naked. In a lot of ways, the 5K I ran on Saturday was like any other race: The tall, skinny guys zipped out front, fast. When we can’t go outside without covering our faces, there’s a special appeal in the opportunity to uncover everything else. Upcoming Races Latest Results Find A Race Race Calendar Running News Daily Weekly Top Ten In a Naked Pandemic Race, You Can Leave Your Hat On
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