Last Saturday, my friend Jennifer and I road-tripped down to Des Moines to participate in The Color Run. This all started back in June or so, when she started on a fitness program. She’d been at it for a few weeks, and announced on Facebook that she’d just done a mile and a half, and stated the time (I don’t remember what it was). Being the instigator that I am, I popped on and said, “Ok, so when are you doing a 5K?” I wasn’t expecting an answer. But almost immediately, she popped back on and said, “find one and I’ll do it!” So, after a little looking and some exchanges with other friends, we decided on The Color Run in DesMoines on Oct 6. We signed up (at 40 bucks a pop… yikes!) and headed out on Saturday. We decided to make it a “Girls Day” – she has a little boy, and neither of us really thought our kids would enjoy it. BOY were we wrong; next year, we’re bringing them along. They’ll have a blast!! I give you… The Color Run:
Before the race, Jen and I are all nice and clean…
The idea of this “race” is that it’s not a race at all. Nobody is going for time, even though some people are running, and pretty quickly. The only requirement of the race is that you be dressed, at least on top, in white. They give you a packet of color, too… you’ll see what we did with that later.
At every Kilometer marker, you “run the gauntlet” of color. I don’t have pictures of it, because I didn’t want to get my camera covered. Maybe next year I’ll have a solution to that. So you do the entire 5K, running through a different gauntlet of colored powder, and you come out at the other end looking like this:
Looks like I’ve been dipped in paint, but really, it’s all colored powder.
At the end of the race is Race Village – I guess it’s at the beginning, too – where there’s this whole party going on. They put up a stage, had loud music going, people dancing… and about every 15 or 30 minutes, I don’t remember how long, you’d hear a countdown. When they hit “one”, this happened:
The Color Cloud at race end.
I am now attempting to set the color in my shirts. They say if you soak it in vinegar then iron it, the color will stick. I’m hoping so.
The thing that really surprised me? They said that 27,000 people participated in the races that day. There were three “heats” throughout the day… people leaving the starting line about every 10 minutes. So it makes sense. I guess we completely shut down that part of the City. But it was SO worth it!
Us Girls..Our Views 
Wow. What a great time that looked like. Good for you for completing it.
Double bummer… I washed the shirts today. The color all came out!!! Although now that I think of it, I stuck them in the washer with the rest of my Color Run Gear….. which had been soaking in OxyClean…. oops. Maybe next year, the color will set.
But at least I have the pictures!
That sounds like a lot of fun! I agree, the kids will love it.
I would LOVE to do something like that!!!! That looks like so much fun. Jason, Sue & Toby are doing the Spooky Sprint this yr again on Oct. 27th. I decided not to do it, I’ll stay back with Hunter.
There was such a big group last year.
yea my mom can’t do it because of her knee. So they won’t be there. If I did it with Jason, Sue & Toby I would be left in the dust since I’m not a runner!
Good Job! That looks like So Much Fun. Ah…too bad the colors came out but like you said at least you have the pictures. It’s a good reason to sign up for next year! Looks like such a fun event.
That does look like a ton of fun! 🙂 Good job!!!
They had this same ‘color’ run in Hutchinson last weekend. our one delivery on Sun in hutch was telling me about it. looks like fun!!
Reblogged this on thewhitedish.
That’s awesome! The color runs around us have sold out 😦