Bags of Color... to cover the bags under my eyes.

It's Color Run Day—a day I've been anticipating and dreading. A day that brings forth a strong conflict between my love of color and my hatred of running. 

As it turns out.... who knew running a 5k was so painless?

Granted, the getting up earlier on a Sunday than I do for work, is rather moronic. Runners, get it together, let's do an 11pm 5k that ends with an open bar. 

But give me a good (colorful) gimmick and I'm apparently open to doing things multiple things I hate simultaneously. (1. Running 2. early in the morning)

So what is this Color Run? It's an un-timed 5k that is touring the country. Today, it visited Grand Rapids*. Runner's wear white, and as the race progresses, they are hit with color powder, blue, orange, pink then yellow. 

The whole thing ends with a color celebration (at Calder Plaza), where all the runners throw color packets into the air. It's a color bomb. A beautiful moment and then a dusty aftermath. And no worries environmental folks, the color is all safe for plants and animals alike (supposedly, and I hope). 

It's a very non-serious, laid-back race. Totally my style, except that first thing in the morning bit. Take a look—I stayed very unintentionally clean. Next year I plan to crowd surf during the final color celebration.

Team Chromatics: Collectively, I'm not sure your could find a group so not serious about running.

A before and after sort of thing:

 After.... but still fairly clean: 

 Color Explosion:

 Aftermath:

So, overall, what does this non-runner think? Yeah, I'll be there again next year. 



*A Color Run volunteer we talked to at Kilwin's last night said Grand Rapids has been her favorite city. Apparently we're very "clean".