Yesterday, my friend Ashley and I made the drive to Richmond, VA for the Color Run, and after the 5k today, we made our drive back home. Overall, it was a good experience and a lot of fun. It was Ashley's first 5k and the first time either of us had ever done anything like this. The only stipulations to the run were to wear a white shirt and to have a lot of fun.
Our day started with getting up around 6:45am, the Richmond Speedway was only 3 miles from our hotel so we thought we didn't need to leave until 7:30. We were wrong. We spent almost an hour in the car to go 3 miles, then we had to wait 40 minutes in line to get our bibs. Once we got our bibs we had to wait another 30 minutes to run. One thing I didn't realize was there were going to be over 8,000 participants. Its awesome to see, but man its a lot of humanity. Go figure the one thing I missed on the race packet was the number of participants. At one time, Ashley looked at me and told me that my hobby requires way to much patience from one person. Around 9:45 we were able to start our race, but since it isn't a timed event it really didn't matter when we started. FYI it took us 46 minutes to run/walk the 5k. However, we stopped in a lot of the color stations and to take pictures throughout the race, so we probably could have run it quicker had we tried not to enjoy ourselves so much :-)
The race was cool, at every k there was a different color thrown on you. The first was yellow, then pink/red, blue, and orange. I was a little sad that no purple or green was thrown on us because I think it could have made the messiness stand out more! At one point, the pink station ran out of color so they let everyone just roll through the station. It was hilarious and so much fun! I took a lot of blue and orange to the face and hair. Right now I have a bright orange spot on my hair that may or may not wash out, but I am confident it will dissipate in a couple of days. They also gave us little baggies of color that we could throw. Ashley just covered me in the powder. My legs are currently pink and her hands are definitely red. The course took us all around the back part of the Richmond Super Speedway. It was a little hilly at times, so we did a run/walk approach.
What I learned about traveling out of town for a race: If you can, get there a day early for the packet pick up and to get a feel for how seriously crowded it could be. Unfortunately in this case, both of us worked and couldn't get there until the evening before and we missed the packet pick up. I also learned to leave for the race early. One problem with out of town races is that you don't really know where everything is and in this case you can also severely underestimate how bad traffic could be. Also, if your hotel doesn't have early checkout then take your stuff with you. We had to rush back to the hotel where we rinsed off quickly before heading home. But we definitely ran into some girls who got back after us and totally got locked out of their room. 
Would I do a Color Run? Absolutely! There is something magically awesome about participating in an event where everyone is just there to have fun. When you are with over 8,000 people who are all there to have a good time, the excitement and happiness is infectious. The only stipulation is that I would run closer to home. Its a shame that they will not be hosting a run in the DC area next year :-( But I highly recommend participating in a Color Run. It truly lives up to its nickname as the Happiest 5k on the Planet. I even have takers for running with me next time it becomes available because of how awesome it is!3 weeks until Divas! Can't wait and getting ready to run a long distance tomorrow! Until next time, happy running :-)
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