I did my first Color Run in 2012 at Piedmont Park. It was honestly one of the "funnest" 5Ks that I have done. Most of the participants are very casual runners and walkers. The Color Run does a great job advertising itself as a family race, and that it is! There are families everywhere doing the 5K and even younger kids in strollers. I would probably not recommend putting your newborn in a stroller to do this race, but toddlers and old LOVE it! I had such a blast doing it last year, that mom used wanting to do the 2013 Color Run as part of her motivation to get active. Did she enjoy her Color Run experience? You will have to see....
What is the Color Run you ask? If you haven't heard of it, you need to check it out here. Basically it is super family friendly 5K where you start out in a white shirt (or a completely white outfit if you choose) and you get colored by volunteers at each kilometer. Don't worry, the color is a colored corn starch that comes out and is completely safe. By the time you finish, you are a work of art! If you still have not had enough color fun, there is a post race party with music, dancing, and of course MORE COLOR! Periodically, the DJ announces a countdown and everyone throws color in the air (color provided to you at packet pickup).
I could go on and on about how much fun I had at the Color Run, but I will keep it short and sweet and just let the pictures tell the story. The race was at Atlanta Motor Speedway which was great because there was a TON of parking.
You had a choice to do your packet pick-up before the race at a local running store (which we did to save time) or you can pick it up race morning. There was a HUGE line to pick up your packet, but the line went so fast! Also, the merchandise tent was set up for you to buy your Color Run gear.
After you got to the race, there were lots of photo ops for you to take your "before" pictures (in other words, pictures of you still clean and dressed in white).
 |
| My gear laid out the night before |
 |
| Lots of women trying to get ready.... |
There were 2 waves: 9:00 and 10:00 which you selected at registration - mom and I did the 9:00 start. Basically, everyone that is doing the 9:00 start gets corralled and they let off groups at a time. Our group was about the 3rd group to go, so we took off around 9:15. We had a great time in our corral! Everyone was ready to get colored and party!
At this point, I am going to let the pictures take over....
The first color was....BLUE!
I literally looked like Cinderella in my now blue tutu. Thanks mom for adding blue hand prints on my butt! As we rounded into the 2nd kilometer we spotted our next color....ORANGE!
At this point I looked like either a Auburn fan or a Florida Gator....
Our 3rd color was my favorite....PINK!
Our final color was YELLOW!
After going through our final color zone, we headed to the finish line.
After taking a few post race pictures, we decided to head over to the post race party...
I guess the big question is did mom enjoy her first Color Run. Well.....we ended up doing the race a 2nd time! Yes, that is how amazing it was! They were letting off some of the 10:00 waves so we went for a 2nd time. By the time we got done getting colored a 2nd time, we were quite colorful!
After you were done becoming a colorful masterpiece, they had volunteers with leaf blowers to help you clean up...
These are a few of our before & after pictures:
We were starving on our way home so we stopped by Chilli's for some lunch. Needless to say we got quite the looks!
We had a WONDERFUL day that is for sure. If you are trying to decide if the Color Run is right for you, ask yourself the following questions:
(1) Do you LOVE getting messy?
(2) Do you LOVE color?
(3) Are you willing to let loose and not take yourself seriously?
(4) Does the thought of running, walking, skipping, and dancing through a color filled 5K make you smile?
If you answered YES to all the above, then the Color Run is for you!
Time to Run,
Brandi