Journey Back to Half of Me: The Happiest 5K on the Planet

Wow...is all that I can say. Leading up to this weekend I was pretty excited with all of the stories I was hearing about how awesome The Color Run is and how much fun everyone has, but I don't think I realized just how much fun it would really be. My Mom, Dad, sister Jordyn, my husband, and Lenae all packed up and headed out first thing on Saturday morning to Topeka to my Aunt Rita and Uncle Dana's house. Rita and my cousin Amber went and got our packets Friday night to save us some line time(I would strongly encourage anyone to do this as the crowd on Saturday is kind of crazy!). We arrived in Lawrence at about 2, 2 hours before the race. We walked around a bit, taking in the sights and looking at what crazy outfits that other people wore. Let me tell you, there were some VERY interesting people there that added to the entertainment.

They started to usher people into the "Start Chute" around 3 and began the Pre Race Party which included music, dancing, the Emcee starting chants and telling jokes, and throwing out free Color Run merchandise. While that part was really run, an hour smushed in tight with thousands and thousands of people, some who smelled, who didn't have manners, or were just really really into the music, made it seem like it was a really really long hour. The last 10 minutes seemed to fly by pretty quick though and before we knew it, it was time to lock arms and get started! I say lock arms because we literally had to lock our arms together as to not be separated by the hundreds of people that were let go into the first wave. After about a block we were able to let go and settle into a comfortable jog and reach the first zone of yellow. Now I knew that people said to close your eyes and mouth while going through these color zones, but it's honestly really hard to not laugh or scream when they are throwing powder all over you, so some of that yellow powder ended up in the mouth. It does not taste good. We walked a little after that zone as dodging people gets a little energy consuming at times, and the very cold air made it a little hard to breathe. We picked it back up for the next color zone of orange made it through there...laughing the entire time. We even mananged to see Dr. Maroza's and her husband from here in Beloit taking pictures, so she snapped a couple for us! (We saw them a couple of times throughout the race.) There was a guy however who did not laugh and actually got pretty angry after being hit by some of the color(although he seemed like he was making it out to be a competition). He was screaming every expletive in the book while there were tons of little kids around...very classy. Anyways...we walked a little bit more before the 3rd zone of blue and picked it up right before. I made the mistake of sniffing during the blue zone and yes...everytime I blew my nose for the rest of the day it was blue(TMI? :)) On the way to the last zone, you double back the way you came which lets you run by the people who have just left the orange zone...so there were lots of high fives, yelling, laughter, and just plain happiness. The last zone of pink was probably the craziest for me because it seemed to be a little thicker than the other colors, which made it to where I could not see but a foot in front of me, so I was just really hoping that no one had stopped for me to run into!

We were nearing the end of the Run and still laughing from all of the craziness that had taken place throughout. We reached the end, grabbed a water bottle to wash down all of the powder in our mouths, and headed to the festival to participate in the "Color Throw". In your packets you receive a packet of the colored powder that is used in the zones and if you hold on to it til the end, there is an all at once throw. So we hurried to the center of everyone and counted down and then everyone threw there packets into the sky. It was really cool because it felt like you were in a giant game of the parachute throw up, where you all have a handle of a large parachute and while holding onto it, you throw it up. It was a cloak of color for about 2 seconds and then you had to make sure and close your eyes and mouth because it all came raining back down on top of you...drenching you in powdered color. We made our way back to the husbands and Lenae, and once Lenae saw me she just started giggling. I figured she would be a little standoffish and scared...but nope! She was giggling and wanting to touch my face to see what was all over it...I changed shirts really quick before going into the blower stations, as I want to preserve the color on mine, and headed back to the cars. I still had blue coloring all of my face and hair when we stopped to eat at KFC...not the healthiest choice but we were starving and it sounded good...sue us! Shelby, Lenae, and I then proceeded to head to Walmart to grab a pair of sweats for me to sleep in as I left my extra pair that I meant to pack at home. Not to my surprise...only 1 person stared at me. I think that there are more interesting individuals that enter that place on a daily basis. After a quick shower back at my Aunt's, and another face cleaning after my uncle so lovingly pointed out that I missed some :), we had a margarita and headed to bed.

All in all...it was a wonderfully, awesome, colorful time. It really was the Happiest 5K I've ever done :) I would highly recommend The Color Run to ANYONE. Walk, run, crawl...anyone of any age can do it and have a blast. It honestly seemed like it was only a half a mile because it was that much fun. I wanted to do more when we were done. But best of all...I got to spend time and do something fun with my Mom, Sister, Cousin, and Aunt. Couldn't ask for anything better!!! Next weekend my Mom, a couple of friends, and I are doing a "color run" in Concordia that Big Brothers Big Sisters is putting on. Can't Wait!!

Have a great Monday...here are some pictures of the event!!