The Color Run! (Or Colour Run here down under) Talk about a fun way to blow off steam from a crazy work schedule!
Grab a friend, a white t-shirt, tutu or wig, and get ready for a 5k that feels more like a crazy family reunion.
On October 13th, multiple cities around the world hosted "the happiest 5k on the planet!"
Some people that are reading this may have already done taken part of a color run, and if you have, good on ya! (that's the Aussie slang coming out)
Colin, Kelli Ramsay, myself and our new friend Jenna all decided to sign up for the Color Run at the Sunshine Coast, about an hours drive from where we are working.
Part of the charm of the Color Run is that everyone taking part is there because they are supporting a good cause (a local children's hospital in our case) and are aiming to get covered in colored powder.
The only rules are to be polite to other runners and to wear a white shirt.
We went a bit further and made some tutus and flower headbands.
This, of course, called for an artsy-shmartsy photo or two.
The morning of the run, we got in line with over 6,000 other runners and waited for our wave to begin. This gave us time for some outstanding people watching and lots of opportunities for pictures.
It was a sea of white at the starting line. The white, however, would not last long.
First up was the blue zone, followed by yellow, orange, and pink.
Pardon the low quality of the pictures, please. All the photos from the run were taken from inside a plastic zip lock bag. :)
The concrete in each color zone was completely covered in the powder.
It seemed like everyone, whether walking, running, or dancing the route, was ready to cheer on the people around them with a high five and encouragement. The lovely part of doing this in Australia was instead of hearing, "You can do it!" and "Keep it up!", we heard, "Good one!", "Too easy!", and "Good on ya!"
We made it to the finish line covered in color and loving the feeling of accomplishment and camaraderie with the rest of the crowd.
There was a celebration at the end of the course. Music, dancing, contests, general uproar and shenanigans....
...a colorcorn (more colorful than a regular unicorn)...
...and a whole lot more color.
After a countdown from 10, the crowd would open packets of colored powder that had been passed out and toss the powder up into the air.
This is what the inside of that color cloud looks like.
It was a tad hard to breathe for a few seconds. And after the colored settled, I found myself thinking, "Huh. If volcanos spewed colored dye, this is what the aftermath would look like."
All in all, it was a great day.
