Fleur de Love: My Color Run Experience

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

My Color Run Experience

Those of you who know me know that I've been training to run a 5k for a few months now. My first 5k to tackle was The Color Run here in Birmingham. I have been looking forward to this race since I first heard of it. I couldn't wait to sign up. I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to register here!
The idea of The Color Run is to start out clean and white and end covered in a rainbow of colors at the finish line. There are people stationed at each km to douse you with a different colored powder. Sounds fun, right?

Well, the week before the race I was out of town and caught a cold. On the flight home, my ears protested to popping and I ended up with a miserable ear infection in each ear.

Not. Fun.

But, I went to the doc, got the booty shot and some antibiotics, and got as much rest as I could before the race.
The day of the race, I could actually hear out of both ears and my face didn't feel like it was going to explode. I hadn't been able to run in over a week, but I was determined to do it! My sweet friend Alice, who is a cross country coach, ran with me. She's been sick too!
We met at her house with the rest of our team bright and early in the morning and made a quick drive over to Barber Motor Sports for the race. The sky wasn't quite sunny, but it was clear. We were an hour and a half out from the race and dressed in our new white clothes - ready to run!

And then it happened...the sky opened up...and the rain came down...

and came down....

and came down lots more...

Before we even started the race, we were standing in lakes and rivers of rain!

We weren't really sure we were going to be running. My fingers even got pruney waiting for the start!

The start was delayed a little bit, but everyone was still ready to go for it. Some people got antsy waiting in the corral, so the color started flying a little early!

My first bit of color and I hadn't run at all!

And then it happened - we started running! The rain kept coming down, sometimes pretty hard, and we even heard a little thunder, but I did it!

Driving rain and ear infections - who cares? I was COLOR RUNNING!

The track was kind of hard - lots of hills, but I can say I ran about 90% of it - not bad for a sick girl who has never run hills before!

It was so much fun! I've never done this race when it wasn't raining, but I think the WaterColor Run was even more fun!

Our group saved our powder packets to throw at each other - and look, PURPLE AND GOLD!

It was a great experience. Not only did I accomplish a personal goal (mostly), but I was part of a big fun event in Birmingham! If you are thinking about doing it - JUST DO IT!

Our team, The Red Letters, worked together to raise money for Team 1Verse - a Bible translation mission. We are raising money for the Rutara tribe in South Asia. They've never had the Bible in their language, but they will with your help. Please click here to donate a verse or a few!