I’m a little backlogged on race recap posts, so I’m going to start with the most recent and move backwards…

This past Sunday, I got to run the Color Run 5k in Irvine, CA.

I “ran” the 5k with my good friend Sarah and a bunch of her friends from Cal Coast Fitness.

This race was coming less than 24 hours after I finished 19.8 miles of the SoCal Ragnar Relay (recap to come soon, I promise!) with Team Run Like an Egyptian, and my legs/body were exhausted.  Luckily, this race is all about fun, friends and (of course), COLOR!

For those of you who don’t know what The Color Run is, its a 5k, with colored powder thrown at you at every kilometer.  We first got doused in yellow, green, purple and lastly pink (hence the over abundance you’ll see soon of pink).  

Then, at the end, there is a huge gathering of finishers, and everybody throws powder up in the air.  Its epic.

We had a blast, ran slow and enjoyed ourselves (~10 min miles have never felt soooo good) and got doused in color.  My shoes will never be the same.

While I enjoyed the experience overall, there’s a few things that I wish I would’ve known beforehand, and that I’m glad I now know in case I do another one:

(1) Wear sunglasses even if its not sunny.  The powder is EVERYWHERE when they throw it at you.  Its so hard to see, and it gets in your eyes — even with sunglasses.  I would’ve died (especially since I wear contacts) without my sunglasses

(2) Its hard to breathe in the powder.  A hankerchief to cover my nose/mouth would’ve been helpful to get through the color.

(3) Bring 2 towels for yourself afterwards.  One to wipe off the powder, and one to put down under you (even if you change your clothes) to avoid getting powder all over your car — its EVERYWHERE.

(4) Wear old shoes — they’ll never be the same.  And you’ll probably want to throw them all out.

Have you run a Color Run or would you ever?  What’s the craziest ‘themed’ race you’ve ever done?

***Photos are courtesy of Kristina Lee Photography***