Color Run!

 

🙂 photo credit: Jeramie Kopp

A week and a half ago I celebrated a month of hard work getting in shape with an incredibly run 5K: the Color Run.  I found a friend who was crazy enough to sign up last minute for the race, dress up in neon tutus, and have a fun race!  In preparation for the race I Googled the Color Run and read a bunch of blog entries that were super helpful in getting ready for the race, so I thought I would add my own experience for others who are prepping for the race.

First, how did we get a last minute registration for the run?  The races, especially in big cities like Washington, DC, fill up within days of when the registration opens.  I was able to get a transfer registration from a runner who couldn’t do the race, and active.com makes it very easy for the racers to transfer the registration to a new runner.  So I was able to find a bib for myself and my friend the week before the race.   If you’re in the market for a last-minute registration, check out the Facebook page for the local Color Run, there are a lot of people looking for transfer their bibs.

We decided to go all out and bought the tutus and tube socks at the packet pick-up.  The packet pick-up was amazingly well organized and fun, with ample volunteers, goodies available for purchase, and fun music.   Our kids were not running but we wanted them to be part of the experience so we bought the Color Run t-shirts to wear to the race as well.

The DC Color Run was held at National Harbor, which is about a 30 minute drive for us, so we got up bright and early to avoid the anticipated lines for parking.  Traffic on a Sunday morning was light and we arrived before there were any substantial lines for parking, so it was very easy to park.  We had been closely watching the weather because there was a 60% chance of rain.  I had done some nervous reading about what happens if it rains on the day of the Color Run, and we had decided to brave it, even if it ended up raining.  We lucked out and with the exception of a little drizzle as we were running, the rain held out for the morning.

We headed for the race start corral, and were in the first wave of runners.  The DC race had about 5,000 runners, so I had read it was good to be in an early wave so there would be fewer strollers and walkers to dodge if you intended to run the race.  There was plenty of entertainment while were were waiting for the race to start with goodies being given out, photo ops with unicorns, and people-watching.  Our kids and husbands explored National Harbor while we waited, and we were pleasantly surprised that they started the race 15 minutes early for the first wave.

As we headed out along the Potomac, we soon approached the first color station where volunteers toss colored powder on you as you run by.  We came to the yellow first, and got covered in yellow.  We had decided to stop along the way to take pictures, since it was an untimed race and we weren’t running for time anyway.  Then as we ran along we ran through the other color stations until we finished up the 5K and then met up with the families and all headed into the fun at the finish.  This is when the kids joined into the color fun and we got covered in even more color.  There was a little area with colored powder in barrels, and the kids enjoyed covering each other in color.  Then we headed over the the stage where there was music and every few minutes there was a “color toss”.  They invited kids to come up on stage for a dance contest and my younger daughter enjoyed dancing on stage.

The whole family had a blast at the event, and I hardly noticed running 3 miles with all of the fun.  I’m so glad we did it and wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try!  Next time we hope to come back and have the kids run with us as well.

 

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