Yesterday I finally participated in my first Color Run – The Color Run UK: London!

Leah, Laureen, Jessica, me and Charlie 

Before we get into the details of yesterday’s experience, let’s take a step back to talk about the fact that The Color Run movement is only 2 years old. I can’t believe they are taking place in so many cities across the world after just starting back in January 2012. According to Wikipedia, Travis Snyder started The Color Run as a way to encourage people of all abilities to run together for fun. The color portion was inspired by the Indian festival, Holi, and Disney’s World of Color.

Now that we have that little bit of history behind us, let’s get back to yesterday’s event – the London Color Run. Charlie and I hopped on the tube, or shall I say multiple different tubes, about 1.5 hours before the start as we knew it would take us at least an hour to get out to Wembley Stadium, where The Color Run was taking place. We had decent luck with our transfers and arrived with time to spare and were able to easily meet the other ladies who waited for us in the tub station. Leah even had fun orange tutus for us to wear during the race, leftover from another running event! The tutus added an extra hint of fun to our costume and helped us keep track of each other in the crowd.

Like many other 18,000 people who ran yesterday, we opted to wear the gear that we received with our bib including a t-shirt which Charlie and I both cut to make a bit smaller since the sizing ran large and our sweat bands. Since I wasn’t sure whether the color would wash out of my clothes I wore shoes, socks, shorts and a bra which could be thrown out afterwards if necessary. In the end, I only ended up throwing out the shoes as the color came out of everything else in the wash.

Since the sun was shining and the weather was perfect, we decided to follow the signs towards the starting corrals in hopes of getting a spot in the front. During the race they only let a certain number of runners go at a time so if you want to get done quickly I recommend getting there early and moving as far towards the front of the crowd as possible. We were able to see the starting line from our spot which meant we were able to start in the first group yesterday versus some of the other people who were still waiting to start WHEN WE WERE FINISHING!

The event itself was supposed to start at 3pm but we didn’t cross the starting line until 3:15. Instead of having tons of fun, loud music in the starting area they had one very loud emcee who was randomly shouting at the crowd and throwing out The Color Run gear. While I know his goal was to get people pumped I think an awesome DJ would have been a better option and more fun overall. Hopefully they can add this for next year. Dancing in the starting area, similar to the way we did before the La Genevoise 5k would have been a blast!

When we crossed the start line at 3:15 we had one goal in mind – have fun! The five of us decided to stick together and run in between each of the five color stations which were spaced approximately 1k apart throughout the course. Each color station featured 10-15 volunteers who were throwing handfulls of dyed corn starch at us as we passed. The orange one seemed to be the longest while the blue volunteers seemed the most aggressive with their color handfulls! My personal favorite was yellow!

PINKBLUE

YELLOW

ORANGE

As we ran down the finishers area we had a great time giving all the kids who were spectating huge high fives!

As you can tell from the pictures we took in the parking lot after finishing, each person was covered in a different level of color based on whether they ran straight through, ran the edges or sprinted through.

We were all SO THANKFUL we wore cheap sunglasses as they were covered after the race. Charlie let me borrow a pair of her fake Ray-Bans which worked perfectly even though by the end we were having to use our fingers as windshield wipers in order to see out of our glasses while running!

There was a party going on in the parking lot complete with music, the same emcee dude and lots of powder being thrown all over. Since we knew we had another hour long trip back home in front of us are group opted to participate in one burst of color powder fun before using the bathroom and heading to the tube station.

In case you’re thinking about running a Color Run in your city, here are a few things to consider:

1) Why are you running it? If the answer is as a PR then this isn’t the best race. Most color runs aren’t timed and it’s tough to run fast on a course with obstacles as fun as color explosions.

2) Make sure to wear shoes, sunglasses, and clothing which can be thrown away afterwards in case the color doesn’t come out. You may also want to leave nice jewelry at home so you don’t risk ruining it.

3) Get there early if you want to start in the first wave as most color runs have a wave start system. If you can’t get there early then get there late so you don’t have to wait around in the crowds for an hour.

4) This type of event is enjoyed far more with friends than solo. Grab a few friends and make an afternoon or morning of it, enjoying frozen yogurt or brunch afterwards!

5) If your Color Run doesn’t have back check, you can run with a backpack that is covered in a trash bag. We saw a number of people doing this on the course and it seemed to work well!

6) If you have room, you may want to a change of clothes or wet wipes or face cloths to wipe the color off you post race and a towel or trash bag to sit on if you’re driving your car home.

7) You can protect your phone, keys, tube pass and other important things by putting them in a Ziplock bag and carrying it in your hand during the race. My bag was COVERED in powder after the race but everything inside was safe and sound!

Are you a Color Run fan or do you think at $30-$40 per person they are too expensive?

Thank you to Leah and Charlie who shared their hilarious and colorful pictures with me for this post along with Living Social UK and The Color Run London for the complimentary bib.