Color Vibe 5k

It's definitely been an off week for me. I did absolutely no running all week, thanks to being completely submerged in sick land. So Sunday, when it came time for the Color Vibe Run, I was not so optimistic about my ability to run the thing.

I was planning on running with a friend, so when she texted me in the morning that she had woken up sick, I kinda sat down on my couch and contemplated just canning the whole idea.

Let me tell you, I have the most amazing husband. He saw my face, and immediately hatched a plan. He was going to run with me, and we were going to take our (almost two year old) daughter with us. Within ten minutes he and our daughter were dressed in "ruinable" clothes, and we were off.

I need to mention here that my Husband just started running again, after not running for a very long time following a serious knee injury. He has run a total of one run, for about a mile with walk breaks. So for him to volunteer to do this with me took a lot of courage.

We showed up early (around 8:15 - first start time was 9:00) and got him and our daughter registered. We hung around in the parking lot near the start, listening to music and letting our daughter walk around a bit. That may have been a mistake, as she then threw a fit when it was time to get back in the stroller to "line up".

They released the pack in "waves". You'd file into the chute, which they had roped off at both ends. Once the chute was full, they'd drop the ropes and every ten minutes they'd start a countdown and off a wave would go. We got in to I think the third or fourth wave. I'm sure there were at least one or two waves behind us.

As soon as we started moving, my daughter settled down. She absolutely loves riding in the jogging stroller, as long as we're going fast! We started out too fast, and I kept trying to reign it in, but my husband has looooong legs. After about a quarter mile, he was feeling it though, and we were approaching the first "color station", so we dropped to a walk. The people running the stations were so funny! As soon as they saw us, they'd get down and veeerry carefully toss or  squirt (they had those big ketchup bottle things you see at restaurants) powder on my daughter, and completely forget to get me and my husband!

We alternated running and walking for the rest of the course, although we definitely walked more than ran. I haven't run with the jogging stroller consistently in a while. I forgot how hard it is! That thing is like a sail on wheels, and it was WINDY on sunday.

I was getting very upset with how badly I was doing with "running" this at one point. My lungs were just not cooperating. My husband was having none of it, and pointed out that a) I am still kinda sick. I was coughing a lot during the run/walk and occasionally (tmi) coughing stuff up. b) I was pushing the jogging stroller, so I was working a lot harder than if I was just running by myself. Most importantly c) It was a beautiful day, my daughter is adorable, enjoy the walk.

And I did. It was so much fun going through the color stations and just getting outside in the surprisingly awesome weather with my Husband and Daughter. We even stuck around a bit for the "after party" and got some extra doses of color. We had a blast, so much that we've already started recruiting some more of our friends with kids to invade the next one planned around here!

I would recommend these for anyone with kids or anyone looking to have a fun run/walk. I don't know how well it would work for someone trying to seriously run it. But again, it's not a timed course so that's not really the point.

Now: pictures!

The Race Packet - Shirt, sunglasses, bib and color pack

Getting ready to run!

Pre-race Dancing!

Post race - Let me get down and dance!

You can see how I got very little color!

The Stroller was COVERED!

My husband also got very little color!

After Venturing into the "color party" for "More Color!"

Back home and Ready for a nap!