Color Fun, Color Run

The Color Run NYC

The Happiest 5k!

Yesterday was my first event run, the Color Run NYC! It's a 5k race along a course that will turn you into a human rainbow.  Well, "race" is a loosely used term here, since it's not timed, and they allow infants to participate.  I'm sure you see the allure for a girl who runs 10 minute miles...

The Color Run weekend journey started with Packet Pickup on Thursday, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but maybe because it was my first one.  I picked up Marty's and my run swag, and fell in love with an awesome product, the Flip Belt by Level Terrain Apparel, which I picked up on race day (you can get it here !)

Run Swag

The Color Run Race Packet - My first race participant tee, a head band, a color pack full of purple dust, a temporary tattoo, and an official race bib!  I couldn't resist the knee high white socks, so I picked up a pair for Marty and myself.




Race Day
4:15 am.  Time to walk the dog and put on lots of clean white clothes!  Our journey was two buses and a train ride away, to Aviator Sports at Floyd Bennet Field.  Our first bus never showed, so we took a car to the train, barely making it to 2 train, but a few NYPD officers held the door for us as we ran down the stairs.  They were a nice start to the day, as they chatted with us about the Color Run, and informed us that there were other runners on the train.  Our bus ride after that was a bit less sweet.  There's a bus full of runners - sardine full, at 6am on a Saturday morning, and everyone is dressed the same - yet the driver "missed" our stop, and even gunned it, speeding down the road to a stop that was simply in the middle of a highway.  The group took it in stride.  We were there to run, for fun, so what was a little warm up walk?!

                                                     









7 am.  We checked our bags, and got our pre race, sparkling white pics.

After milling around for a half hour, we decided to head back to the corrals. The DJ played some music that everyone knew but me.  Apparently I'm truly 34. We ended up being in the first heat, so at 8am, we were off!

The Color Run works like so: every kilometer, the amazing, kind, fun Color Run volunteers douse you with color dust, squirted out of industrial sized squeeze bottles.  You can run in front of them to get the full colorific treatment, or stay towards the center if you're color shy.
Here is where I was going to to say that the course was otherwise bare and boring, and that it seemed to be an old airport/runway.  To confirm, I researched, and learned this:

Named for naval aviator and Brooklyn resident Floyd Bennett, the first person to fly over the North Pole, the old airport was a point of departure for other record-breaking flights of famous aviators including Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes. The site opened in 1931 as New York's first municipal airport and was converted to a Naval Air Station in 1941. It was then the most active airport in the United States during World War II. Now, Floyd Bennett Field is home to the Historic Aircraft Restoration Project (HARP), which restores and maintains a wide variety of aircraft and gives visitors the opportunity to get up close to—and even inside of—these amazing airplanes. Located in Hangar B, this impressive collection is a must-see for any fan of aviation history.

Sooo...that was kind of an historical course, and it was retrospectively magical to be there!!

There was a DJ along the 2nd and 3rd kilometer that was hilarious, and kept us laughing the entire time we were in his area.  Before we knew it, we were getting doused in the pink dust of the 4th kilometer  - Marty went ahead for an action shot of me in the pink cloud of color magic!

The Post Race scene is just a huge color dusted dance party!  We took this time to take some great photos, get some free drinks, and some snacks.

  We won all the Colors!











By then lots of runners had finished and gathered at the stage for the DJ'ed dance party/color throw.  We hung around for a while, shooting pics, laughing, and faux-dancing!

This used to be a white shirt.

                                
                                
 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                                 
                     

 

For my first run, I conclude that races are SO FUN! My second run happens to be in 35 days, in Walt Disney World.   It's a Tower of Terror themed race, and 6 of my closest friends are participating/going.  It's safe to say that after that race, I might have to hang up my running shoes -I'm afraid the fun-run bar has been set too high.  Well, maybe after I give Beer Mile a shot.  Pun intended.

Thanks for coming by!