Yesterday, Bry, myself and two of our friends went to the Color Me Rad 5K in Philadelphia!  This run was a lot different than other 5Ks I’ve done, for obvious reasons (I mean, there were people throwing colored powder at me).  At first I was a bit hesitant on doing this because honestly I hate getting dirty… which is why I’ll probably never do a mud run.  Thank you for Color Me Rad for letting me review this race.

Registration for Color Me Rad is $30 for early bird, $40 for regular, and $45 for late registration.

For a full list of upcoming Color Me Rad 5Ks, go to: http://www.colormerad.com/races/

Pre-Race

Bryan went to the Philadelphia Runner store on Friday afternoon and picked up all of our packets for Sunday’s race.  He said that when he got down to the registration booth around 1pm, there weren’t that many runners there yet.  However, he did mention that it was very well organized and if there was a crowd, the wait wouldn’t have been long at all.  The race packet included:

• a black Color Me Rad t-shirt to wear post-race
• bib
• a pair Color Me Rad sunglasses
• Color Me Rad tattoos

My alarm went off bright and early race morning at 5:45.  EH.  As much as I was completely exhausted, I jumped out of bed and into the bathroom to get dressed.  I was too excited to go back to sleep for a few measly minutes.  The attire for the morning included the following throw away clothes since I knew I wouldn’t be keeping any of it after getting colored powder thrown at me:

• White XL youth t-shirt from Michael’s
• Gray shorts from Champion
• Nike sneakers (very old)

Parking

Parking was very organized, ample, and free!  This was shocking since I knew it was in the city.  Once we got off the highway, there were numerous signs directing people to the Mann Center parking lot.  The lot itself was a large field with probably a couple hundred parking spots.  We were able to find a spot very quickly.  The parking lot was only about a half mile from the starting line.

Starting Village

The starting village was pretty cool.  As we neared the starting village, I could hear loud music playing.  I’m pretty sure the first song I heard was “Call Me Maybe”, but I won’t hold that against them.  There were a good number of sponsors and the registration line seemed to be moving fairly quickly.  We didn’t have to stand in line because Bryan already picked up our packets.

The starting line was exciting.  Music, beach balls and powder filled the air.  People who purchased extra powder packets started throwing them before we started running.  I was pretty pumped up and excited for the run to begin!

The Race

The Color Me Rad run wasn’t timed, so I knew I wouldn’t be running the whole thing and I wanted to spend the race with Bry and our friends anyway.  We started off jogging, but realized about 1/4th mile in that it was pretty congested and decided to walk.  Although there were multiple corrals, it seemed like people were just starting whenever they wanted.

I was pretty disappointed during the first portion of the race, because the first color station wasn’t until 3/4th mile.  In order to get people excited, I feel as though the first color station should have appeared MUCH earlier.  People around me seemed bored and the energy I had from the starting line seemed to diminish.

The color stations weren’t what I expected.  In my opinion, there weren’t enough volunteers throwing color.   The stations themselves were backed up with people waiting to be dyed.   However, we waited patiently to be “colored” and went on our way.  We had to do a lot of walking through the stations, but we ran a lot in between.

Half way though, there was a water station.  I was happy to see this, because at this point I was dehydrated and had blue teeth.  *Note: If you are doing the Color Me Rad 5K, close your mouth in the color stations.*

Finish Line

The finish line was pretty great.  We were given color packets 1/4th mile from the end.  Once we got closer to the end, everyone opened their packets and started throwing the color into the air!

(Source: Color Me Rad Facebook)

After we finished, there was the finale.  Everyone gathered in one area and counted down from 10.  When we got to 1, everyone who didn’t already use their color packet threw it up in the air.  I can surely say I’ve never been to a finish line like this one before!

Post-race

Getting the color off after the race was interesting.  The first things I washed were my hands.  I had about an inch of color on them!  I then hopped in the shower and rinsed off the majority of the color off my body.  I didn’t have too much on my body, so I was very grateful!  Bry still has blue under his arms!  Getting the color out of my hair was easier than I thought.  I had to do two rounds of shampoo, but eventually it came out!

I rate this race an 8/10.  The color stations could have been better, but overall the energy from the crowd really made this race stand out.  There weren’t many “runners” there and didn’t feel like a lot of other 5Ks, because the race wasn’t timed.  It was nice, because I wasn’t stressed about time!  I’m happy that it wasn’t timed, given the fact that it was very congested for the majority of the 3.1 miles.  The parking was a definite plus, and the 75 degree weather was pretty perfect!