Race Recap: The Color Run Baltimore 2015 + A GIVEAWAY
For starters, I acknowledge that this race recap is 2000 and late. I ran this race almost two months ago, and am just now getting to this. Sorry! But you know what? At least I wrote it, right? 😉
In all honesty, I never thought I would run The Color Run. From the pictures I saw, I thought it looked corny, and like I would be walking the entire time. Deep down inside, however, I knew that I wanted people to throw stuff at me. Is that weird? (Don’t answer that.)
By now, you’ve probably heard of The Color Run, and know the basics. You run a 5k with a group of friends, and people throw colored powder at you. You smile, you get awesome pictures, and you get totally dirty. Okay, so now, let’s get to this recap!
Back in February, my family and friends threw me a super sweet surprise 30th birthday party. At the party, we talked about getting a team together to do The Color Run. We picked a date, decided to run the race in Baltimore, and came up with the name Team Half Fast.
I live in the DC Metro Area, and though I live in Maryland, I rarely run races in Baltimore. In fact, the only race I’d ever run in Baltimore prior to The Color Run was The Electric Run last summer, and that was a dreadful experience (not because of the location!). I like that the 5ks in Downtown Baltimore allow you to run around Camden Yards and Ravens Stadium, where the Orioles and Ravens play their home games. It’s too bad you can’t run inside the stadiums, but running around them is still pretty cool.
It was a beautiful day for a race! It was sunny, and not too hot. We were able to snap some bright photos prior to the race so that we could get some good before and after pictures of the group. The people on Team Half Fast were: My mom, my Aunt Lisa, my cousins Abigail and Melana (Lisa’s daughters), my friend Judy, my friend Andrea and her son Jace*, and me. In our race packets we received official Color Run t-shirts sweat bands, temporary tattoos, and wrist bands.
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| Team Half Fast before the race |
We thought it would be a good idea to get some bandannas for the team, since we’d seen photos of people wearing them during their races. This turned out to be a great idea! Andrea picked some up after she very kindly went to pick up the race packets for the team the day before. Since some color stations are dustier than others, it is really helpful to be able to cover your nose and mouth and run through the colors. I mean, it’s a race after all. You have to be able to breathe! We mostly just kept them around our necks until we approached a color station, then we would just pull them up and run on through!
Okay, so the color stations. How do they work? Basically, you run a short distance, then you get to a station filled with volunteers. The volunteers are all throwing just one color at you at that station. Team Half Fast decided that the yellow station volunteers were the best, since they were extremely enthusiastic kids, and they just covered us in yellow! The orange station was probably the least enthusiastic. It was like they didn’t even want to be there. :-/ According to Andrea, it was a good thing that they didn’t really throw much orange at us, since orange is supposedly the hardest color to get out, and it turns white clothes brown. Yikes!
The cool thing about this year’s race was that it was the “shine” edition of The Color Run. That means that we had a station where we got covered with glitter. Yay!
At the end of the race, we each received a medal and a couple of extra color and glitter powder packets. We took some team pictures after we regrouped (we got a little separated), then headed for the post-race party area. The DJ on stage would play a few songs, then tell everyone to get ready to throw their powder. They would do a countdown, and then you would just be covered in all of these different colors. There was a gigantic cloud, and you couldn’t see anything, and it just felt awesome!
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| Me in a cloud of powder and glitter! |
The race was a blast, and the post-race festivities were fun also. I guess it’s not a coincidence that they call it “The Happiest 5k on the Planet!”
There were tons of vendors, and I got a chance to try out all types of cool products. Judy challenged a guy at the T-Mobile booth to a push-up competition, and kicked butt — purple ears and all!
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| Check out that form! Go Judy! |
I highly recommend giving The Color Run a try, if you haven’t already. Make sure you run with a group for optimum fun and smiles!
Now, on to the giveaway!
As I mentioned, Andrea’s son Jace* ran The Color Run with us. Since the race, he has fallen in love with running! Andrea is a great mom with wonderful kids. So, check this out: Jace won a $15 gift card for RoadID, and suggested that Andrea give the gift card to me to have, or to give to one of my readers. That is so sweet! I already have a RoadID band that I wear when I go on my evening and/or trail runs, and I love it and suggest that everyone buy some identification for when they’re running. So, you know what that means… You lovely readers will have an opportunity to try to win a $15 gift card for RoadID identification!
Use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win. Good luck!