The Happiest 5K on the Planet

Currently, I look like a pale smurf. You might confused me for being anoxic. I have a definite blue tinge all over my body… from running.

No — I didn’t lose oxygen in mile one and need ressussitation. I knew what I was getting myself into. I participated in the Color Run this weekend. You’ll have to judge for yourself if my run this morning lived up to its name!

Running – of any kind. Is a new thing for me.

For years, I said, “I’ve only been allotted a finite amount of run in my lifetime. I must save it because some day I might be chased by a dog or a man with a knife and I’ll want to have all that run saved up.”

I’m eating those words right now.

My best friend, Tracy, talked me into running last year. We saw it as a measurable goal. (Much like I talked about in a recent post.) It could show me how hard I’d worked and how far I’d come.

So today, I ran my second ever 5K!

It was billed as The Color Run: The Happiest 5K on the Planet! I figured I needed fun, fanfare, and flying corn starch to keep me going! As you run along the course, there are color stations each kilometer where volunteers absolutely drench each runner with colored corn starch. As you sweat (or get water thrown on you) you become more and more color-iffic.

Here’s my team… bright and white at the start!

 

We met up with 10,000 of our closest friends and prepared to get messy.

 

You may wonder if we started out so clean and white… how’d we end up like this?

 Well, you know — A little of this and a little of that:

 

 

 

The pictures look fun and fancy free, but this race represented much more than just a completion or a pace for me. It represented progress, health, discipline, training, and incredible achievement. I no longer save the run! I dance through it with a smile on my face! I’m quite proud of myself.