Color Me RAD

I remember seeing a flood of Color Run photos on my Facebook feed back in January and thought it was so cool. I immediately asked my cousin if she knew of another one coming to Orlando. And that's when I first found out about Color Me Rad. I immediately signed up and invited a bunch of friends and told them to invite their friends. Not only did it seem like it a lot of fun but a portion of the proceeds go to charity (Ronald McDonald House!). So definitely a win win all around.

I have done several walks for charity but never have I done a 5K or WANTED to do a 5K. Out of all the different ways there are to work out, running is my least favorite. I signed up for Color Me Rad solely for the experience. I wanted to do something outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to try something new. I was in no way trying to prove something physically. That's not what it was about for me.

After all the invites, it ended up only being me, Erin, and Sam on Team Lilac Attack. I woke up early yesterday morning to get all of our shit together. I also wanted to give myself extra time to get my contacts in. (Running in prescription lenses is not fun.) Good thing too because I had a bit of trouble. (What's new?!) I texted Erin and Sam "I'm about to cry. I can't get my right contact in!" in which Sam responded "You can do it!" and BAM I got it in. I called her my good luck sharm (Get it? Sam + Charm = Sharm).

I picked up Sam first and then Erin and we carpooled over to the Central Florida Fairgrounds. But when we realized the long line of cars on Colonial was for Color Me Rad, we turned around and went to their other parking area at First Baptist Church. So much more room! We put on our knee high white socks, yellow shades, and helped each other with our RAD tattoos. We all agreed that they would look best on our left forearms. Although we had a little panic when I couldn't find my tattoo. We looked through every inch of my car and finally Sam found it. It was in Erin's bag. Because Erin used mine on accident. HA! Crisis averted. We then had to wait in a line for about 30 minutes for our shuttle. There were a group of really obnoxious girls on our bus and I felt like I was back in high school. People are so inconsiderate.

We got there right before our 9:30 wave and were herded into this area right in front of the starting line. It felt like we were waiting forever with the hot sun beating down on the back of our necks. Plus it was so crowded (Orlando CMR Sold Out!) that people were just everywhere. We were all anxious to get going already! It was finally our turn and our group got our first taste of getting colored. I was kind of nervous about the powder getting in my eyes (I'm just weird about my eyes!) but it really didn't bother me. The glasses of course helped too. Then we were off. We ran the first bit just to get away from all the people. And then we pretty much walked the entire damn thing. That's how we roll! Actually the majority of the people walked. So whatever. We were excited for our first color bomb area. We ran through laughing and screaming. I almost ran into one of the photographers! Whoops! We had a blast running through each of the colors. I think the orange color bomb squad got us the best, or at least me. There were a few stations that we thought they were spraying us with water but it was actually liquid color. They got me right in the ass! Nothing like walking around with a wet ass cheek. The whole 5K went by so fast. A total colorful blur. Before we knew it we were at the finish line. The course wasn't nearly as long as I thought it was going to be. We all ran through the last of the color bombing and crossed the finish. I felt alive. I felt free. It was that infinite feeling that Charlie talks about in Perks. And it's that reason I decided to participate. Even though I barely ran, I felt so proud of myself. And now I have such a great memory to look back on! Right on! Hell yeah!

At the end, we each got our own personal bag of color. We each took turns opening ours separately and throwing it in the air. It was a nice little finale to the whole thing. We rode the bus back to my car and enjoyed the shit out of the A/C. We loaded up my car and carefully placed sheets over my seats so it didn't get dirty. As we were leaving the parking lot, a guy flagged us down because my trunk was open. I'm not naming any names (coughERINcough). HAHA! The sad thing is the driver didn't even notice. The driver was me. -_____- We were all starving so we ended up stopping at Taco Bell in all of our colored glory. Such a fun morning spent with some of my favorite people.

Thanks for joining me girls.
It was fucking RAD.

BEFORE / AFTER