Color Run, Funner Run!

As most of you have read, I recently had the honor of participating in the Color Run in Austin Texas. I have to admit, this race was a blast. From the time I arrived to the time I left, I had lots of fun. I had ran it with my 3 children and it has to be the most fun I have had in a race so far. I think this is the case because I am not as scared and nervous before each race like I have been before. Is what set this race apart from the race was the staff.  All of the staff went out of their way to make sure everyone had a great time. From the littlest, to the off the couch to the more experienced runners. They took it upon themselves to try to insure all had fun. I really do have to admit, my favorite of the staff and the race was the DJ. He made it so much fun for all ages. My son has his frisbee taken from him while we were in the area in front of the stage and he went out of his way to make sure my son got a new one. This was a huge deal for my 4 year old son. This is a huge part of the reason why this has become my favorite of the races I have participated in so far.  I have never been to a race that took that much care into making all of their participants happy and having a great time. I will definitely be making this a yearly event for me and my family.

Now it is time to really get down to the Nitti Gritty part of this post. The actual events that took place on September 7^th 2013.  I arrived the morning of the race around 4 am while they were still taping off the race course and setting up.  Even though we had gotten lost on the way there, I will totally get into all of that towards the end of this post, I was not tired. I decided then to go try to see if they needed any help setting up or anything. At this time I helped them set up their swag booth and their final water station. I got to meet the wonderful staff of this race and by doing so, I knew that this race was going to be different than the races I have participated in before. The race started about 8:15 am and my middle daughter decided to run it with my sister’s best friend who has the nickname “fancy pants” So It left me, Jill, my oldest daughter and my son to walk jog the race. I wasn’t able to run this race due to me hurting my leg yet again not even a week before the race. So I stayed with my son. This was an eventful experience to really say the least. See, my son loves to run but he was really tired so he was whining. About ¼ of a mile into the race he was looking back behind him as he was running and saying “I am a champion” when disaster struck. He toppled over and skinned his knee, which made the rest of the race a little slower than normal but it was worth it.  I tied my bandana around his bleeding leg and gave him my sweat band and we started again.  My son’s favorite color was the blue. He called it “magic healing blue” The best part he loved was at the color stations there was music that he knew so he was singing through all the stations. There was one lady who was running through a station and the volunteer didn’t put the lid on the bottle all the way so she ended up with a face full of powder. This did not make her happy at all. It was an easy mistake but it was not a pretty site.  Anyways my daughter, who I am very very proud of, finished her race in ……. Wait for it……….. Keep waiting for it………….35 min! Oh yes, I am one proud mama.

Anyways, it took the rest of us an hour to finish walking the race but we didn’t care how long it took us. We were having way too much fun. The after party was a blast, in more ways than one. Not only did I get some awesome pictures but the kids had a TON of fun dancing to the music and watching everyone have fun. There was a few times that we had to step away from the stage because we couldn’t breathe due to all of the powder and there was a few times, I even caught myself throwing up from inhaling it.  This occurred because of all the people so close together, all throwing powdered color into the air to the point it was too dense to even breathe. This had nothing to do with the race itself but it was something that had us getting out of the after party sooner than later due to my 3 kids and making sure they were okay.  I am very happy for the experiences of this race and really wouldn’t change much about it other than their needed to be seating for people to sit at after the race or for those who were waiting on their racers to cross the finish line. I honestly recommend this race to everyone. It is fun, upbeat and it was well organized.  From the water monsters full of water at the water stations to the DJ who was having a great time entertaining everyone.  If you have never done a race like this before, I highly recommend you doing this one. It doesn’t matter if you are a couch potato or a seasonal runner, you can either run or walk this race and still have lots of fun. If this is a race you would like to do, and trust me you would love it, then head on over to the Color Run website and sign up for a race near you. 

After the race was exciting to say at best. The clean up. It took all of us 3 days to get the color off of our skin and hair. I bathed all 3 kids as soon as we got home and my tub turned purple. You can even see where my children's bottoms where in the tub. Jill, had her ankle looking like she got into a fight with a bunch of ninjas and lost, while my arms and other places, looked like I was beaten. I guess that is what happens when you are fair skinned. My girls, Still to this day, have pink in their hair. It has been 4 weeks since the race and it is still pink. Oh well, they really wouldn't change it for anything.  The charity that was sponsored for this race was Color Cancer. They offered race bracelets for those who wanted to run for someone who had or is fighting cancer. I honestly feel strongly for this because of the cancer that has run in my family. It makes me feel honored to be participating in a race that helps charity's that sponsor a charity.

 

Now, for the fun part of the post. I said earlier in the post about  how we got lost, yeah I would say we got lost. Due to construction going on, the road we were suppose to take, was blocked so we ended up driving around Austin for 30 min. First, we stopped by IHOP thinking, someone around here should know where the civic center was? Man where we wrong. Other than getting hit on and flirted with, they sent us on a wild goose chase. So we decided to stop by a gas station. This poor clerk could barely speak English and didn't know at all where we were looking for.  We had to finally stop by the hospital and get directions from the Police officer on staff. Hey, we at least got to see the capital. lol. We were very glad we left as early as we did and have determined that My son may not be running the next race I have next month. I really hope you guys have enjoyed my post. Don't forget to eat right, get plenty of exercise and as always, sweat pink :)