Take a look at how clean I am. It's all about to change.
Finally it was time to race. Being the first year for this race, it was smaller, but I kind of liked it that way. We lined up at the start and there wasn't any overcrowding. We started to race and had breathing room right away.
Before I go on, here's a little info about the race. The 5K had three color stations and since the race was an out and back, you went through each color station twice giving you six chances to be showered with color. About ½ mile in was the first color station. The volunteers were really great about throwing color on everyone and we were covered after just the first station. After laughs and quickly realizing keeping your mouth closed is the best option, I raced on.
When I began the race, I wondered how I would feel. Because I didn't want to ruin my phone, I checked it and had no music for the race. It wasn't until the race started that I realized you could hear music through almost the entire course, leaving me feeling great.
I reached the halfway point and grabbed some water from the water stationed and headed back for the last half of the race. It was just after the halfway point when I could hear the race director announce that the first runners had finished. It was an untimed race, but I knew when I heard that I must have been doing great on time, which gave me motivation to push a little harder.
After passing the final color station, I knew I was almost done. I ran into the finish feeling just as good as when I started. OK, OK, I felt better than I did before I started. Those endorphins will do that to you.
Grabbing a water, I headed to get my phone and keys from gear check and realized there was a strong possibility I PR'd that race. I don't know for sure since it was untimed, but based on when I picked up my phone, I think it was by a few minutes. Now I can't wait for my next 5K!
Have you ever run a color run? Did you have a good time?