Color Run

Another bib added to my collection.

But let us be clear.  Do not confuse the Color Run with a race.  The Color Run is NOT a race.  I say this, because a race would be timed.  A race would have age categories with top finishers.  It somewhat reminded me of little league when everyone gets a trophy for showing up.  A little pat on the head, and a "there, there--at least you did your best".

I truly get the point.  My first "race" was a fun run like this and that is what it took to get me hooked on events. The Color Run is great for first timers or for runners who just needed a little joy and happiness in their weekend.  

But today, I wore my crabby pants.  Any other day, I wouldn't have an ounce of snark to me--but today, you get snark.

Here is my beef.  First off, the run is somewhat expensive.  I get it.  There is a little more that goes into the event and they give you cool "stuff", not to mention the colored corn starch they toss on you.  But I really think it should be timed.  I think that is part of the fun of it.  To see where you are and how you can improve. The anticipation and pride of looking up your time the next day.  Or maybe, they should have a timed option. Like, sign up for "this time" if you want to be in a timed 'heat'.  That would make this whole experience different.  

More beef, I usually do not pout about running solo.  I generally enjoy it.  I push myself pretty hard.  Just zone and go. I don't want to worry about slowing someone down or going to fast for a partner.  But I really didn't want to do this one alone.  EVERYONE was in large groups of friends and I was just awkwardly trying to find a place to stand.  Luckily, I am good at making single serving friends (actually most of my friends are single serving.  People just don't typically like me very much these days)  This time, I made a friend who was a girl!  Which was nice, because then I didn't have to concern myself with creepers. She was awesome, and I had a brief second where I thought about exchanging Facebooks with her so we could take our single serving friendship to the next level, but then I realized I was probably being the creeper in this scenario.  But on the off chance, Rebecca from Wichita--I think your cool as hell.  Maybe I will post a missed connections ad on Craigslist or something.  

Another thing that I want to snark about.  Girls that show up to this thing with their hair perfectly straightened down to the middle of their back.  There was a group of like 6 of them in front of me while I waited for the race to start. It was obvious that they were burning up and sweating like crazy from their super long straight hair.  But they refused to put it in a pony tail?  I don't even know what to say to that, other than--why are you here???

Another thing.  Zumba at the start line.  Cute idea.  I just hate Zumba so I wanted to complain about that as well.  Man I was a super grump today.

I made a good decision in arriving early.  I wanted to go in the first wave so I could get back to feed Owen, and from what I heard, if you started later--it was impossible to run the entire thing if you wanted to because the color zones got backed up so mid race you would have to stop and wait 5 minutes to get through the zone.  But I got their early and broke away from the crowd and just went.

Lastly. while the after photos are fun--turns out, I don't like colored corn starch thrown on me.--at least not when I am in a bad mood.  I made the best of it though, because I rock like that.

Performance wise, I timed myself.  I was almost a minute slower than my last run. BUT in my head, I just wanted to finish in under 29 minutes--so I did reach my goal.  I picked 29 minutes because I was being realistic about the weather, the fact that I am getting over a repository thing, and had decreased my activity aver the past two week.  Also, I went to the gym before the run--I took HEAT class. I don't really think that was a factor.  My legs were a little fatigued, but not bad.  If it was a long distance, I think it would have been an issue, but since it was only a 5k it was not a big deal.  

Sooo.....my final thoughts.  Deep down, I did have some fun.  I would do it again under a few circumstances.  1.) I had a group of friends to go with.  2.) Proper attire to change into post race 3.) A towel to towel off 

A beer wouldn't hurt either. 

All joking and snark aside.  I did truly enjoy myself and appreciated having the afternoon"off"  from SAHM/.Housewife gig.  I am grateful for run events as they take me places I would not otherwise go and have a fun experience to reflect on.  

Fitbit thinks I did almost 20,000 steps today.  That is super wrong.  I realized it was counting steps when I was sanding a table top earlier today....silly.  But I did do more than ten thousand today.