My Saturday morning began at 5:00a.m. Allie and I had decided we'd run 7 miles before the color run to allow us to get in our 10 miles for that day. I met up with allie, amanda, and rebecca to run at allie's house this time. It was so nice to run a different route! Normally we're trying to squeeze in mileage before work so we run routes around my house so I can run in quickly and shower without having to drive home. Thankfully Saturdays allow for new territories.
I'll be honest... the first 3.5 miles were tough. I can't figure out why though. I hadn't eaten tons of junk the day before, I had plenty of rest, good shoes... yet my legs were very tired. I pushed through and the second 3.5 was much better... and it was mostly uphill! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle the color run too... until I got there and I quickly changed my mind.
We concluded our 7 miles at allie's house where emily and sarah met us. We all rode with allie down to the race and could quickly feel the excitement before we even parked the car. Driving up we saw people in weird costumes, tutus, crazy hair, crazy socks... it was a circus.
As we walked up to the starting line, we knew this was no ordinary 5k. We're talking thousands of people. Thankfully we were able to squeeze into the 3 rd waive of runners... and I say runners lightly... in each group you had runners, walkers, babies in strollers... this was no competitive race. So we knew this was going to be laid back and we'd just roll with the punches. Our bodies were tired but not terribly so. I assumed we'd still run our normal pace... maybe just a little bit slower. With the amount of people that we were around, our run became enjoyably slow. Slow enough to enjoy everything that was around us. Normally, we are so focused on finishing to beat our last time that I'm not looking around enjoying the scenery.
This race was a blast.There were color stations that you ran through where people were throwing handfuls of colored powder on you and some of the participants were even rolling around on the ground to get more color... yea, that was weird. We learned quickly though no matter how fun it is and how much you want to laugh at the craziness around you, it is crucial to keep your mouth closed... or else you'd get a mouthful of powder or it'd be stuck to your lips and teeth. We ran through, yellow, pink, orange and blue stations. Then we crossed the finish line. As you finished, you had the chance to participate in the after party. This included music, crazy dancing, and then a count down. This count down was a time for you to use the bag of powder you were given to throw in the air. We left ours in the car b/c we didn't want to carry them, but there was no need for them anyway. Others made us colorful with and without our permission. :)
When we left, we were filthy! That did not stop us from going to Gibson's for donuts though. Thankfully we were not the only color runners in there.
The owner was curious about our look... and about Laura.
So glad to have been able to participate in the happiest 5k on the planet!
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