The Color Run

This past weekend was AMAZING.

It all started about a year ago when I saw this pin on Pinterest.

I didn’t know what it was but it looked AWESEOME.  That girl, whoever she is, is full of color and so happy.  I had to know more.  That’s when I discover The Color Run “The Happiest 5K on the Planet.”  Before this, I never had any interest in running, certainly not running a 5K, but she just looked so HAPPY. 

I told Brad about The Color Run and that I kind of wanted to do it, I thought he would be completely uninterested, but like the amazing husband he is, he told me that if I wanted to run it he would do it with me.

In December we signed up for a gym membership at Fitness 19 so we could start running on the treadmill.  In January we officially signed up for The Color Run on May 11, 2013 in Ypsilanti, MI.  It was sometime between January when we signed up and this past Saturday when we actually ran The Color Run that I realized, I HATE RUNNING.  Kudos to those of you running marathons and half marathons because running is terrible.  While “training” I would be running along and just start walking, not because my legs were tired, not because I was out of breath, simply because I did not want to be running any longer.  Once the weather got warmer I started running at the park, which was a little better than on a treadmill but still did not offer much relief.  It was about a week before The Color Run when I stopped looking forward to the run itself and started looking forward to it being over instead.

The Color Run suggests you pick up your check-in packets early to avoid long lines on the day of the race so Brad and I decided to make the 50 minute drive from Toledo to Ypsilanti on Friday afternoon, the day before the race.  It’s kind of a long drive to just stop by pick up some paperwork and turn around to drive 50 minutes back to Toledo so I did some online research for a local restaurant in Ypsilanti we could check out for lunch.  We ended up at Sidetrack Bar and Grill.  It’s housed in an old downtown building with character that newer construction simply cannot emulate. We sat on the patio, which was lined with bricks, vines, and old cast-iron railings to give the restaurant a top-notch ambience that really makes your meal an experience.

Sidetrack boasts

  “‘Our Famous Handcrafted Burger’ Rated one of the nation’s 20 BEST BURGERS by GQ Magazine.” 

After seeing such lofty praises, we naturally had to try the burgers. Before we got to the main course though we decided to get an appetizer and drinks. First up was the avocado dip, served with what seemed to be baked-in-house tortilla chips. I’m not sure what they added (or didn’t add) to make it different from your standard guacamole, but whatever it was, it worked. It was light, creamy, delicious, and gone within minutes. Feeling adventurous, we both ordered Kasteel Rouge (a cherry beer) to drink. We’ve had a few other cherry beers in the past (notably Sam Adams Cherry Wheat), but to compare Kasteel Rouge to them would be like comparing cherry-flavored Tylenol to 100% cherry juice – and no, that’s not an exaggeration. After some quick research, I found out why. The brew starts with a brown ale that is aged for six months; then that is aged in a separate barrel along with sour cherries for ANOTHER six months. The result is incredible; the cherries seamlessly blend with the ale for a quality I haven’t experienced in any other flavored beer. In short, if you are a fan of cherries, or just a fan of beer, don’t hesitate to pay a little extra for it.

When the burgers came out, they were predictably amazing. Had they served me a plain patty and called it Salisbury steak, it likely would have made for a delicious meal. You know you’ve got a great burger when the toppings become irrelevant and you just find yourself raving about how good the beef is. Served with hand-cut fries, it was the type of simple, yet extremely high-quality meal that you can eat time and time again…and yes, it would be worth the 50-minute car ride just for lunch.

6:45 a.m. and tired

Saturday morning we headed back up to Ypsilanti around 6:45 a.m.  Brad isn’t used to being up that early and we were exhausted! We arrived in Ypsilanti around 8 a.m., we hadn’t anticipated it being so cold when we signed up for the race, it was only about 45°, of course the entire 2 weeks before the race it’s been around 70°.  Freezing our butts off in shorts and t-shirts, we got in line to get to the start line.  Yes there were so many people running that there was line to get to the start line, they released runners/walker about every 5 minutes to start the race.  Standing in the large crowd our bodies began to warm up and I became excited about running again.  There is a DJ playing music and you are surrounded by tons of people who are excited to be there, it’s hard not to be excited. They counted us down…

10…9…8…7...6…5…4…3…2…1 

and Brad and I were off, running our very first 5K ever.  Turns out running isn’t so bad, when your running in a group, it was actually fun…it was a lot of fun. I felt like the girl from the picture I had pinned on Pinterest a year earlier.

Brad and I ran the race together, hitting every “color zone” at each kilometer together.   I was so proud that we (I) ran almost the entire 5 kilometers, there was a lot of congestion at the orange color zone so we had to stop and walk (I guess everyone really likes the color orange) and we started walking once more only to hear someone nearby say there was only about a half mile left, so we started running once more and we finished the race, covered in color, teeth blue, hand in hand.  

It really is “The Happiest 5k on the Planet.”

Before

After the run

After the run there is a color party with a DJ and stage, where they throw free stuff into the crowd and have a color throw every 5-10 minutes where everyone in the crowed opens up a packet of color and throws it in the air. By the time we reached the car we were covered from head to toe. We put sheets down in the car and took off our colored covered shirts for the ride home. 

I blew teal colored snot out of my nose, I had to wash teal stain from the bathtub after showering, and I’m still cleaning color out of my ears.  Even though prior to this race I never wanted to run again, I couldn’t wait for the run to be over…now…

I can’t wait to do it all over again next year! 

After the Color Party

Disclaimer:  I did not write this blog on my own, Brad was very helpful with part. I do agree with everything written.  If you know me, you can probably guess where he helped :)

THANK YOU TO THE MOST AMAZING HUSBAND FOR BLINDLY SIGNING UP FOR THE COLOR RUN!!!