The Color Run - Nashville

Before the run

The starting line--I was in the first wave

Last Saturday I did The Color Run in Nashville.  That's about two hours from my house so I was really hoping to enjoy it.  I'm all for having fun when you're running and enjoying the run or race, but, sadly, this just wasn't a great experience for me.  Oh, it was fun, and I'm glad I did it...ONCE.  But I'll likely never do it again.  I'd much rather spend my money on a race where I can actually run it than walk it and not be able to breathe for the whole thing.  Let me clarify that...I could breathe fine while walking or running a 5K...that is until I got some of the colored powder thrown directly in my face.  I knew that I'd get it on my face, but this guy stood inches from me and slung the blue powder across my face. Throwing it at my face from the side where they were supposed to stand would have been fine, but this was a bit much.  I was spitting blue color for two days, and getting it out of my ears and nose for that long, too.  I was also surprised at how unorganized it was and how rude the volunteers and workers were. 

The aftermath with my medal and all the colors

Running down Broadway

I did this one by myself whereas many others do this as a group thing with their friends.  What I noticed was that the groups of two or more got much better treatment than those of us doing it by ourselves.  When I was looking for the "dry off" area with the blowers (leaf blowers, I might add), I couldn't find them as they weren't clearly marked with signs, and a couple of workers rudely asked me, "Can I help you?"  Well, no, not if you're going to have that attitude.  I finally found them, but no one was around working them.  I don't know if you were supposed to use them yourself or not, but all I could think of was, "That's a big liability just having industrial leaf blowers out in the open with so many kids."  So, I chose to go on to the car without staying for the color/glitter throw and party.  Now, I know this isn't the case with other Color Run cities as I've seen people who did it alone have a great time.  And I did enjoy running it, but the before and after were not nearly as fun or organized as they should have been. I think because of the lack of organization and rudeness of the workers, I just began it with a bad taste in my mouth.  But overall, it was fun, I got a nice shirt, and a medal, which was nice since this is a pretty costly run to not be timed or anything of the sort.  If I ever do it again, I will likely pick a different city just to see if my experience is different, and honestly unless they offer a medal again, I'll probably not do it if the cost is the same.  There are other 5Ks and 10Ks that may or may not offer a medal but are cheaper regardless of the bling and are actually timed so you can see what you actually run. 

A close up.  The medal is actually really nice.

I know that's not the point of The Color Run--the point is to have fun--but being timed is nice when you're like me and working on getting better at running and training for bigger races.  But I had fun--it wasn't a blast, but it was fun.  Next time I'll try to round up some friends to do it with me, too, and just plan to walk it and not actually run it so we can enjoy it more.  So, there's what I thought of The Color Run.  I'm very proud of my medal I got for it, I ran it and finished it smiling, but I've learned that gimmicky races just aren't my thing!  But I may try them again, just if I need some fun in life.  So, if you're looking at doing one of the themed, gimmicky runs, this was just my own personal experience.  You may love them, and I encourage you to try it!