The Color Run-2014

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early so that I could meet a group of my friends to go run The Color Run. I had been wanting to do the Color Run for about a year, so I was so happy to finally be doing it! We were all coming from different directions, but we made plans to meet up so we could be together during the run and also so everyone could get their gear I had picked up for them. This was a picture I took Friday night before the run. All this color made me feel very happy about my upcoming run! 

We all made it to the meeting spot, put on our matching shirts, donned our Color Run headbands and sunglasses, and put our Color Run tattoos on each other. We were ready to go! We walked to the starting gate and took some pictures while we waited until it was our turn to start. 

This was the rainbow you ran through at the end of the race. 

While we were waiting, I found these nifty little photo tubes where you could stick your face in one end and a friend went to the other end to take the picture. The result ended up looking like you were in a kaleidoscope. Pretty cool effect :)

Me :)

My friend, Josh

We took a few "before" pictures so we could compare them to our "after" pictures at the end. We knew we were going to get very messy! 

The girls before the race.

Kaci, me, Angela, Diane, and Brandi

Me and Diane

Getting closer to the starting line! 

There were so many people participating in the Color Run that they had to do a wave start. They would let so many people go at one time and then they'd wait about 5 minutes or so and let another group go. Once it was our turn, we all took off! Now the Color Run is advertised as a "fun run", meaning you're not timed, and you don't get a medal. In fact, most of the people that do the Color Run walk or walk/run. They tell you it's a 5K, but it's only about 2.7 miles in all. Also, there are TONS of families that participate. I loved seeing all the kids running with the moms and dads. It really is such a fun event for the whole family. I'm actually thinking about taking Eli next year in fact Well, apparently only a few of us in my group knew it was a fun run. Haha! After the first color station, I lost most of my friends. Apparently, they thought there was a prize at the end or something and they took off at top speed...pretty much sprinting! Well, I don't sprint. I mean, I do, but not for a fun run :) I kept chugging along at my go-to speed, which is usually around a 10:00-10:30 min/per mile and stopped to take pictures at some of the Color Stations. Around the pink station, I ran into Angela again and we ran the rest of the way together. We met up with everyone who finished ahead of us at the finish and then waited for the rest of our group to cross the finish line. It was fun, but I didn't get nearly as much color as I had expected to at the color stations. At some of the color stations, you had to wait in line for someone to dump color on you. I didn't really feel like standing around and waiting for someone to dump something on me, so most of the time I just ran through the middle and as a result didn't get much color. That all changed though at the after party, which was, in my opinion, the most fun part of the entire race! 

This was us right after we crossed the finish. See? Not much color on me or Angela..yet!

Once you cross the finish line, volunteers hand you water, a BeKind granola bar (those things are SO GOOD!) and color packets. They have a huge concert for all the runners who have finished the race. About every 10 minutes, they have a huge color release party. They do this big countdown and then everyone at the same time opens their color packet and releases it into the air all over everyone. It's wild, it's crazy, and it's so much fun! Our group participated in two of these color releases and we all got covered! It was definitely the best part of the entire event to me. 

Look at how much fun this is!!

Now THIS is how you should look after participating at the Color Run!

The girls after The Color Run :)

Our entire running group. 

We had a blast together...even if over half of these crazy nuts 

ran like they were in contention for a gold medal :)

We all came home exhausted and very dirty. It took me about 45 minutes to scrub all the color off my body, but I finally looked normal again. Once I washed all my Color Run gear with the Shout Color Catchers they so strategically placed in our running gear packs, I let Eli borrow my headband. He might be running with me next time, so it's time he start training :) Here's hoping my 10:00 min. per mile pace won't be too slow for him :)