*Disclaimer: Color Me Rad provided my daughters and me with a complimentary entries to the race in exchange for my honest review. The opinions shared are my own.*
I honestly had no desire to run through a rainbow. Although everyone claimed it to be harmless or safe, I didn’t know what effect it would have on me with asthma. So, when the opportunity presented itself to run the Color Me Rad with my girls, I decided to give a shot with some extra precautions. Not only would we wear the sunglasses issued by Color Me Rad and white shirts, we would also wear safety face masks and bandannas to prevent breathing in powdery particles. Plus, I planned to carry a backpack with my inhaler.
The race took place at the Florida State Fairgrounds. We’ve been numerous times for the fair and to visit Crack Country, but running through the fairgrounds was a whole new experience.
The girls and I were registered for the 9:40 race, but we arrived on around 8:15 as recommended. This gave us plenty of time to park, walk to the start line, use the restroom and find our friends and pose for photos, of course.
In the general waiting area, there were color bomb areas and bouncy balls being tossed about as participants waited for their waves. As we waited at the start, Jenny and I decided to start around 9:00 instead of the 9:40. I knew would get hot fast and we also needed to be home at a reasonable time to get ready for the Margarita Festival later that day.
As our wave started, no one hit us with any color and a few minutes into the run, I realized how ridiculously hot my face mask would be. I decided to pull it down and cover my airways once we approached the color clouds. Emmalynn seemed to prefer wearing her mask the whole time.
The course was mostly flat. Occasionally, we ran on grass but it was still pretty level. After our first half mile, we were pelted with orange powder. Although my girls were excited about their first color bomb, they were hoping to be hit with pink or purple. I think my stopping to take photos made me a target because they volunteers would hit me more.
Shortly after our first color collision, we ran through some shady trees where another color squad waited to spray us with water paint. With it being so hot, I preferred the spray paint over the powder. It was quite refreshing and better for our lungs!
About this time, we caught up to Jenny and her clan. Emmalynn has happy to see Ella and Haley and they compared colors. I thought my arm looked like Beetlejuice. For the remainder of the race, we walked/ran with Jenny’s clan.
Emmalynn learned to walk around the color squad to avoid being hit, but she still wore her face mask. She only removed it her mask at the water stations.
With it being so hot, I was impressed and very grateful for the numerous water stations, however, there were no trash cans on the course and some jerk decided to throw water bottles up in the air to hit other runners. I had some colorful language to say to him about that!
The last color squad station handed out packets for color bombs as well as hit people with them. My girls grabbed an assortment of colors for one last color powder shower before the finish line.
With the finish line in sight, we finished with a sprint. No Garmin or chip. No clock, just a colorful finish.
Of course, once we crossed the finish line, we had to pose for finisher photos. My girls wore their colors proudly like a medal.
*Photo credit to Caroline.*
After the race, we caught up with our friends and we all laughed over the state of each other with purple teeth and green armpits.
*Photo credit to Caroline.*
I would only run Color Me Rad again if I could experience it with my girls again. Their enthusiasm over the color explosions made me enjoy the moment and not think about it as a race or in terms of a PR.
Color Me Rad defined fun run.
Visit Color Me Rad to learn when the color squad hits your town next.
Looks like y’all had a blast! I was bummed to miss this one–but wouldn’t have been a good idea with my recent breathing issues!
Same here! My asthma has been terrible!!! That’s why we wore the masks and bandannas.
I did a Color Me Rad. It was lots of fun!
So that’s what it’s called when I see people covered like that after a race. They ran through a rainbow! I love the shots you got!
Yes, we were covered in color! We stopped at PDQ on the way home and made quite a colorful scene. lol
I’m so glad you didn’t end up having issues with your asthma so you could enjoy the race – and I’m with you, I think a race like that would be so much more fun to experience with the kids. 🙂 You guys ROCK! 🙂
Hickory Dickory Dock – the Cat Version
That does look like a fun run! I can imagine your concern with your asthma. When I do home improvement with those masks on, I can barely breathe. I can’t imagine running in them! This is one I should look out for to do with my kids.
The masks really did minimize the dust and helped. I can’t imagine running without it! The color runs are definitely the race to do with kids.
I am glad y’all had fun! Great to see so many pics so I know how it really works, since I’ve never done one before.
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