Last year Carlos and I did the Color Me Rad 5K in Boston. We had so much fun we signed up for another color run this year. This time we did Run or Dye in East Hartford, CT. The air was still steamy from the week long heat wave. Let’s just say we did more walking than running. We were a tie dyed mess before our wave even took off and sweat was pouring down our faces. Carlos and I made the most of it, throwing more color on each other then chasing each other. We both agreed that for some reason the race last year was more fun, but we still had a great time together.
I overheard lots of people as we waited for our wave to take off mentioning that it was their first race. I started to ponder the pros and cons of doing one of these color runs as first 5K.
Cons
As we were going through the course I felt kind of badly for some of the people who were really trying to give it their all. Almost everyone was walking because of the heat and the fact that the course was along thick grass and loose gravel. This made it challenging for anyone actually trying to run. Then you are periodically met with color stations where you get color bombed as you run through. If you’ve been training for a 5K and are trying to set a certain time goal this type of race might prove disappointing.
Pros
These are fun runs that new runners can do to try out the distance and the race experience. There is no pressure to run a certain time or pace. Color runs are even better to do with a group of people so if you’re apprehensive about running a race alone and don’t already have people to run with these are easy races to recruit friends to join in with you. Any age can participate so these races are fantastic for parents who might have difficulty finding child care in order to run a race.
Run or Dye East Hartford took place at Rentschler Field which is better known as home to the UConn Huskies football team. The parking lots were packed so pros and cons aside it was awesome to see so many people come out on a hot day to do something active and fun. There isn’t much else to say so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
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- Team Four Feet Fast
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- Getting ready to color me orange
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- Just the beginning
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- Just before being bombed by the blue
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- Colorful
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- A sweaty tie dyed mess
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- Can’t take the heat
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- Hosed down
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- Refreshing
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- I swear I was there too!
Aim 
Aimee…looks like you both had a good time 🙂 But I’m sure the humidity was a bear! LOVE Carlos’ t-shirt!!!
Thanks Kaye. I had a matching T-shirt, but didn’t get any good photos. He came up with our team name last year so we decided to stick with it. I think it’s cute.
What an awesome time!! I would write more but I have to shut off our computer – storms are coming! Check back with you tomorrow! Hugs!
Sounds like so much fun, particularly for you to do w/ Carlos. I’ll have to look for one here. I’ve heard about a few but never done one. We’re thinking about going to India during a festival called Holi (not sure of the spelling), and this would be good preparation!
You know Carina these fun runs really break up the seriousness of marathon training. We have an Electric Run in August. I think that one promises to be a lot more wild and crazy since it is at night.
I just wanted to say that I love that you do these races with Carlos – he knows you run races, but I love that he’s included in your passion of running!
He was my inspiration for all of this craziness!
Such fun photos. These are the times that Carlos is never going to forget. Lovely momming you do. And gorgeous pic of you up there. 😀
Thanks Marion. Carlos and I have fun talking about all of our adventures.