So this weekend, I partook in "the happiest 5k on the planet," The Color Run, which is currently sweeping across the nation going from city to city. If you've never heard of it (see here), it's a 5k, where you wear a white shirt at the start, and as you run, at each kilometer they toss colored powder (I'm told it's corn starch based) at you, a different color each kilometer. By the end, you are colored in "Willy Wonka colored goodness!"
The run is untimed and it was absolutely huge. There were around 15,000 people, many of which were walking. Among the "color runners" was people of all age, including some little children being pushed in strollers! They say it's safe, but many of us were joking that 10 years from now, they will come back with some study saying it causes some disease... Hopefully that doesn't happen, lol. There were many people that wore bandanas or some type of face shield while running through the "color zones."
I was doing the run with a family friend, and we met there around 7:30am. We made our way to the start line which was already packed with people.
There was music playing, and everyone was excited to start. We stood there waiting until finally around 8:10, when they sent the first wave of people off. They were planning on sending about 1,500 people off every 2-3 minutes. Obviously this was a rough guesstimate, and they used an area that was roped off, and whoever fit inside, went in the next wave. We went off in about the third wave I believe. Each new wave, they counted down like it was the beginning of the race. We reached the start line, they counted down, and we were off with the huge wave of people.
At first everyone was jogging, and then the fun of snaking through the walkers began. Some areas were easier than others, but in my opinion, they should have had the course divided in half, and one area for runners, the other for walkers. A natural divide of this sort was somewhat created with walkers toward the right, runners on the left, but it was not maintained. I know it was supposed to me about the fun, and wasn't officially timed, but, I think it would have been safer IMO for everyone involved. Besides, some people get the most fun out of it by running their brains out the whole time, but that wasn't really possible here.
The route was kind of like a cross shape, with 4 spokes. We were running a few minutes when we came up to the first color zone... Yellow! You could see the zones coming from a decent amount away by the huge cloud of smoke created by the powder. as we got to the first color zone, we realized that the only way to really get a good amount of color was to walk in the lines that formed along the sides. There were volunteers lining the size, with bottles full of colored powder that they squirted at everyone . I quickly learned how necessary having sunglasses was. While there's some dust that can still get in your eyes, its MUCH better to have them. As I mentioned before, some others also had a mask or bandana of some sort to cover their nose/mouth. I didn't think it was necessary. While my mouth felt quite dry after this first station, I didnt think my breathing was inhibited or altered in any way from it.
We kept running through the rest of the course, weaving in and out of people, going through the orange, then pink then blue color zones before reaching the finish.
I had brought my phone with my in a plastic baggy with headphones attached, and timed myself since there was no official time. Came in at around 33 minutes, which wasnt bad considering the crowd.
After you finished, they took you into a park nearby, where every 15 minutes you would throw your color packet you received at registration. We made our way into the park, and shortly after, where there was a DJ on a stage, with tons of people below. They counted down, and told everyone to throw their color in the air.
Now this was the truly crazy part. We threw our color packets in the air,and you could not see a thing! Everything was just a huge cloud of color dust, and we were only on the edge of this massive crowd, which was probably a good thing because I started having a difficult time breathing, and had a mini panic attack and had tote tout lol. I don't think it was really that bad, but at the time, I freaked out abut. Not enough tour in the fun though!
We then met up with our families where we took our "after" picture.
Then we walked to our cars and headed home. I had brought towels which was a must. I brushed off all the color i could, and lined the seat of the car with the towels before getting in. The boyfriend almost didn't let me get in his car, but I didn't really give him an option lol. Fortunately he doesn't yet have his new car which is coming in a few months. If he had, i might have been in trouble. The run was still going on, and traffic to get out wasn't bad to get out of there.
When I got home, the fun part began, which was the task of getting off all the color. I was most worried about my hair, as they said that sometimes it can stain hair temporarily, especially if it's blonde/highlighted, both of which mine is, so I thought I was going robe in trouble. Luckily, after some intense sudsing, all the color came out of both may hair and skin.
Overall I thought this was a GREAT run and would highly recommend doing it if it comes to your area! It fills up super fast, so keep that in mind and sign up quickly, even if you don't run it, you'll have a blast!
(some of the images were taken from the Facebook group and other people that ran this weekend)
Have a great one!
XOXO Jennifer
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