Color Me Rad Recap

Today I got the honor to run my first race EVER! It was only a 5k, but I think it still counts. So, let's start at the beginning...
I woke up at around 8:00 since my race time was supposed to be at 10:20. My friend Kelly was running with me and came over at around 9. We ended up talking and putting on sunscreen for a while, so we didn't end up leaving my house till 9:40! Yikes!

Kelly and I in our "before picture"

We got to our destination on time and my mom dropped us off on the corner of the street. We walked across the street to the race where we saw tons, I mean tons of people. And they were all in a huge mob. Kelly and I jumped into the "mob" that was actually a line. The starting line was pretty close, but we were a little confused on why we were all in this huge line! I was a little irritated.
We waited in the line a while longer and then realized that it was 10:40. Umm...weren't we supposed to be running at 10:20? I was a little confused on how all this was going to work. People next to me were supposed to run in the 10:00 group and the 9:40 group. But, we just kept waiting, seeing what was going to happen next.
Once we were close to the starting line, Kelly and I decided that we would try and find my brother's girlfriend, Rachel, and her family. We didn't want to be alone and confused! Lol. We finally found them and walked up to the starting line. At this point, they were letting people start running in small little groups about every 10-15 minutes. We walked up expecting to start the race when this Color Me Rad staff member puts this huge pole in front of us! Looks like we barely made it to that group. But on the plus side, we were going to be right in the front for the next heat.

We finally moved up to the very front of the starting line and within a few minutes, we were off! I have been really sick for the last week, so my group decided that we would try and run as much as we could (especially through the color parts) and walk as much as we needed to. We ended up walking a lot because I was coughing up a storm and wiping my nose every few seconds! It was absolutely horrible. I really wanted to run though. We ran all the way to the first station: purple. We got so excited and came out with absolutely no purple on us! We were pretty bummed. After that, we were on and off running and walking.

I was very excited once I saw the finish line. I was ready to end my misery, take a shower, and just blow my nose without getting colored powder everywhere. I ran the last part of race, because I wanted to end the race running. There were color "bombs" galor at the finish line! I was coughing and coughing until I finally got out of the madness. I found my mom, we took a few pictures and then headed to lunch.

The whole group afterwards. 

The "after" picture with Kelly. 

Overall, it was a fun race. I'm sure if I wasn't sick it would've been a lot more fun. I definitely think it needs to be more organized (I saw people without bibs on, just joining the race!) so hopefully they improve that for next year!

QOTD: Have you ever ran in a Color Me Rad race? How was your experience?