It had been raining nearly the whole night, with the last deluge pouring as I woke up and fixed my breakfast. I had woken up a couple of times during the night in nervous and excited anticipation. Would I be able to run 3.1 miles? Would I enjoy the experience, or would it be miserable? I donned my white t-shirt and some comfy yoga pants, laced up my sneakers and headed out into the chilly, wet Austin dawn.
At around 7:30 I met up with my co-workers and friends M. And S. We headed out to the Walter E. Long park to get a feel for the course, and secure our spots in line.
Keep the following in mind: For the past few days, Austin has seen clear skies and weather approaching the high 70s. Also, our region is in the midst of a record-breaking drought. Needless to say, my friends and I did not adequately prepare for the bone chilling winds and swampy ground. Race time drew near, and then passed, and we grew increasingly irritated as we and several other hundred people froze and waited uncertaintly.
Then the announcer's voice blared, the first wave of people began to run, and we inched toward the starting line. We were on our way!
The first kilometer was deceptively easy. As I crossed the mark, I was doused in sunshine yellow powder. I knew that I could do this. And then, not more than a few yards away, our course became a mangled mud pit. My new gray and pink Adidas sunk deep into the muck; I lifted them back up with a loud sucking sound. My friends and I continued this way for maybe another kilometer or so. Some parts of the course were so muddy that we had to walk deliberately for fear of wiping out and sliding down the hill. Whereas we avoided puddles at the very beginning of the run, we were now running straight into them to try and wash some of the mud off.
It became exhausting lifting my increasingly heavy shoes out of the black mud. For the record, the Color Run organizers did send out an early morning email warning that there would be "a lot of mud", but nothing could have prepared me for this!
We ran back down hill and made our way to the purple color station. I looked down at my remarkably clean shirt and commented on my lack of color. As we walked/jogged towards the next kilometer mark, two abundant fistfuls of pink powder were thrown into my face. So much for lack of color!
By the home stretch, I was breathing hard, kind of tired and definitely hungry, and ready to change out of my muddy, soaked shoes and socks. The three of us were doused in a brilliant violet powder as we reached the balloon rainbow finish line. We swapped our wristbands for a bag of colored dust, and proceeded to dump the contents on one another.
The final product:
I know that this post is already ridiculously long, so I'll leave it at this: In the grand scheme of things, I had an absolute blast. I am proud of myself for sticking with something vaguely athletic, and I hope to participate in more themed 5Ks and races.
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