By Michael Eisenstein

Online Exclusive

Crossing the finish line of the HonFest 5K Hon Run fundraiser, the first few runners were dressed as one would expect a jogger to dress.

And then, it looked like someone had gotten lost from the opening hours of HonFest. Some jokingly suggested the runner had heard a rumor of a half-priced sale, triggering her legs into a quick hurry.

However, the racer adorned in the pink print dress, wearing cat eye glasses and flaunting hair curlers was Deneen Habarta, one of the organizers of the race.

Could you ever imagine running three miles in an admittedly non-aerodynamic and bizarre outfit, which would be best categorized as a costume disguised as a running outfit?

“It’s great, it’s very flowy,” Habarta said. “This is really light [material], so it didn’t hinder me. It was like a big parachute. I was just happy I didn’t lose a curler.”

At only one point during the race (once the course began going uphill after a relatively easy downhill first mile) did the “parachute” prove to be bothersome. Habarta was forced to run with her dress hiked up so her more running-efficient bike shorts would be exposed. This provided a good deal of amusement among Habarta’s fellow racers and the people talking with her in the wind-down area at Wyman Park.

This year’s first ever Hon Run drew a crowd of about 150 runners, but coordinator Jim Adams of the Baltimore Running Store confidently predicts the race will explode in popularity in races to come.

“It was pretty slow in getting the momentum going as far as promoting [the race, so] I guess we’re pretty happy with having 150 or so,” Adams said. “This will probably double next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if 300-500 people came out next year.”

And Adams plans to begin promoting the Hon Run, which benefits the Hampden Family Center, early and often to reach that number for the second annual run. Though for the inaugural race, everyone seemed pleased with the turnout.

“I thought it went pretty well,” Adams said. “[Especially] for the amount of work that went into getting this off the ground.”

But looking up 36th Street to where the HonFest set-up process was well under way, everyone in attendance was reminded that the race was not about serious runners going head-to-head. Rather, it was about the racers who dressed up -- from one in a leopard skin shirt, to another with leopard-print pants. One competitor donned an all pink outfit, including pink, sparkly streamers coming off of her pink headband in the back.

Among the usual race awards given out, there were also special prizes for the best “Hon Runner” and “Pink Flamingo Runner.” It is clear pink, feathery scarves, cat eye glasses and multi-colored wigs are what race organizers hope to see more of come 2008.

“It’s more than competition, it’s about having fun,” Adams said. “The more folks you have dressed up, the better off. There’s a lot of people that tried to do something pink or something flamingo.”

Which is a great way to kick off “Bawler’s” growing HonFest tradition.