Aw, Yeah...The Color Run

What a fun time I had with Katelyn and her friend, Rachel, participating in the ColorinMotion 5K (or the Krishna festival as my brother, Nathan, likes to say). The run was well-attended; I think there were over 200 participants. The pre-race time was fun and the DJ's/sponsors did a great job with getting everyone pumped up and ready to run; although, it was clear that they weren't runners because they kept trying to lead everyone in stretches. Real runners know that you don't stretch before you run.

At packet pick-up the runners received color packets that were supposed to be used after the run at the big post-race dance party. I guess some  people didn't feel like carrying those packets for the 3.1 miles because there sure was a lot of color being sprinkled, thrown, doused on others before we even started running. No one seemed to mind, though since getting covered in color was kinda that point of the whole event.

Soon it was time to start running. Katelyn had tweaked a back muscle the night before working the rigging for the play so taking deep breaths was very uncomfortable for her. That meant we spent more time walking than running, but no worries. I tried very hard to be encouraging, but not demanding. I would try to give small goals to run to. We always walked through the color stations because those were the areas where the volunteers would throw more color on us. At the last one, Katelyn and her friend rolled through the station. That was pretty funny. The only time that I insisted we run was when we were about 400 meters from the finish line. I said we HAD to run across the finish line.

A few pictures...

At the start, when we were all fresh-faced and uncolored.

 

 

Triumphant finish!

 

Wow! That was a lot of color!

 

 

We all stayed together so I have no idea how Katelyn and Rachel got so much more color than I did. The organizers warned blondes that the color would stain their hair so I was excited to think that I might come back with colored hair, but the only place that I have a stain is my right armpit area. I think it looks like a port-wine stain. It would have been so cool if my hair had picked up that color.

 

Even though I was disappointed I didn't come home with stained hair, I had so much fun with Katelyn. I hope she wants to do another one...maybe I can talk her into the Foam Fest 5k.

 

 

 

Post-edit: I should have been more clear about why I was confused on how the girls got more color than I did. Of course, rolling through the last station would account for more color on their clothes; however, it was the more color on their faces in their hair and on their faces that I can't explain. The volunteers at the color stations were very precise and careful not to throw color anywhere near our faces so that doesn't explain their multi-hued faces, especially Rachel's because we didn't run through any blue stations. So how those two came to acquire more color in their hair and on their faces when we were standing/running right next to each other is still a mystery to me.