What can you expect during a color run?

What can you expect during a color run? If it is your first time attending a run, we thought this post may be of interest to our readers. The article talks about the different stages of a color run. Check it out:

The Crowd

A bunch of overly excited teenagers, young parents pushing goggled toddlers in strollers, a few ambitious costumed Buzz Lightyears (begging the question: why?!), and at least two bridal parties. Judging by the amount of pep in everyones step, youd forget it was 7 a.m.

Wave Start Window and Flow of the Run

The wave start window from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. was a great way to relieve any stress a runner usually has about not getting to the start before the gun goes off. There were waves of 2,000 runners that started every five to 10 minutes during the hour so we mingled a bit before hopping into a wave that started around 7:30.

Since people were going at all different speeds on the course, it wasnt long until the walkers in my wa ve were overtaken by the runners and joggers from the wave after. In fact, this took place right around the first color station, and since it was so crowded, we didnt get color blasted very well because of the chaos. Attention race organizers, here is your solution: Inform runners to start in earlier waves and walkers in later ones so no passing of waves occurs at the oh-so-vital color stations.

The Running Part

Note: If youre aiming for a PR, this is not the run for you. Time is not the purpose of the Color Run. Looking like a rainbow barfed on you is the purpose of the Color Run.

There were no timing chips to tie into shoelaces and I did not even see a clock at the finish line. For a girl (me) who once ran so many races that racing, and running in general, was no longer fun, I thought this was such a nice change of pace. With the crowds, actually running the course was nearly impossible; however, we saw some smiling faces of runners at the finish who looked like they truly had a blast.

The Color Run website clearly states that walkers are allowed and welcome on the course, so anyone who had planned on running should have considered themselves forewarned. We decided to just go with the flow and went on a leisurely Sunday morning walk (with an explosion of color thrown into the mix). It took us around 50 minutes to complete the 3.1 mile loop that started near the Art Museum, went up around Lemon Hill, crossed the Schuylkill at Girard, and went back to the museum on West River Drive.

There was a tent at the finish line with much needed water bottles. Bananas would have been a great snack after the long walk in the heat, but there were none to be found. (Next time, please, Color Run people!)

The Color Part

Well, I really didnt have much to compare the color-ness of a race to so Ill have to say this was a one of a kind experience. There were four color stations along the course, going from pink to blue to orange to yellow . When we went through the color zones, volunteers that were literally caked in their respective colors sprayed colored cornstarch directly at us. It was easy to personalize your color by walking directly at the sprayers or avoiding them. I wanted blue so I got a lot of blue. Orange, not so much.

Nearing the end of the run, the color stations were turning into one big colored powder cloud akin to a dust storm but a little more pleasant, I would imagine. Although the powder didnt hurt my eyes or anything, it was hard to see three yards in front of me. Everything was just so, well, yellow. Quite the surreal experience.

After the last station blasted us with color, people began exploding their color packets in the crowd. (This was flat-out rebellion. The packets specifically said to wait until the finish line festival to open. Just sayin.) I got hit in the face with some purple (and found some in my ear this morning). It complemented my blue and yellow ensemble nicely.

< p>The finish line festival was a mix between a high school dance and a rave. There was lots of music, lots of dancing, and tons of color.

This came from Philly Mag which is a Philadelphia location paper, but the color runs around the world are largely the same.