This is a post dedicated to my best friend, Jackie, as it is her BIRTHDAY today!
Jackie and I have known each other for almost 22 years now and I couldn’t ask for a better best friend. Though we haven’t lived in the same country for several years & moved onto different ventures…when we are together, it’s like we never skipped a beat. When we do end up in the same country, we always try one new experience together. Four years ago, Jackie convinced me to train and run our first 10K together. This year, we decided to embark on the COLOR ME RAD 5K!
Color Me Rad 5K was held at Downsview Park this year. A portion of the race, went towards the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto.
We’ve only seen photos of the race and they looked awesome, so we were ecstatic to do this run walk. It wasn’t much of a run for us but rather was just an excuse to throw powder at each other and take lots of photos!
We purchased our tickets back in January for $43 (incl tax). Soon afterwards, the prices rose to $62 (incl tax). We were so glad that we purchased the tickets way ahead of time.
Two weeks before the run, we were sent information on how to pick up our race packets. This year the pick-up location was at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. If a friend is picking up the packet for you, all you need to do is go online and sign the waiver ahead of time. In the packet was a t-shirt, sunglasses (colour of your choice), sticker, and a temporary tattoo. If you can’t pick up the packet, you can always pick it up on the day of the race and merchandise is available for purchase then.
Jackie and I signed up for the 10:30am heat but since there was a huge interest for the run, there were multiple heats that staggered every few minutes from 10am to 3:30pm. So no one really checked what heat you signed up for. Rather you could just join the pack and start running/walking.
There were 5 colour stations where volunteers threw powder at you and a water station where bottled water was served. Once you past the Finish line, you received a colour powder packet of your choice and throw it at each other. At the Finish line, there were lots of freebies like McDonalds coffee, Liberté yogurt, coconut water, carbonated flavoured water, etc…
I was actually really impressed with the coloured powder. I’ve partaken in Phagwah/Holi festivities before where coloured powder was smeared all over my face. Since my face is super sensitive, it got bumpy within a few minutes of the powder being on my face and I had to immediately wash it off. With the Color Me Rad powder, I didn’t experience any skin sensitivities considering the powder was on for a few hours. The website describes this powder as “non-toxic, non-rash-inducing, Kroger branded, colored corn-starch.”
I’m sure you’re fed up with the text and just want to see photos of me looking like a rainbow…well here it is:
Before
After
Lining up to start the race!
After the 1st Colour Station
Splatters from the 1st Colour Station
YELLOW – 2nd Colour Station
PINK – 3rd Colour Station
Made a detour and hiked up a hill to take some more pics
PURPLE – 4th Colour Stations (I got a box of purple powder dunked on my head)
After the last colour station, we chose TEAL powder to throw at each other
Aftermath of throwing powder at each other
Showing off the full outfit
You knew a jumping shot was coming!
Post-Run Concert
Living it up!
Post Concert
Got another set of powder-free shades! HUZZAH!
In our matching pink sports bra & cleaning up all the powder!
Closer look at my crazy hair
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN JACKIE!! May we spend many more interesting experiences together in our lifetime!
As a bonus, I used an iPhone app to compile snippets of videos I took during the “run”.
Color Me Rad was such a blast and we wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I’ve seen photos from some other colour runs and they definitely did not look as good as ours. I wished that all proceeds went to charity but C’est La Vie! It was still very well organized and definitely an experience we will remember. If you plan on doing it, here are a few helpful tips:
- Don’t bother buying any photo packages. Rather, bring a waterproof camera so you can take lots of selfies!
- Don’t bother buying any additional powder or color blasters. Plenty of powder will be thrown at you. Save your money for a hearty lunch instead!
- Wear white rather than black. Since the powder is corn-starch based, it leaves an ashy residue on black clothes.
- Bring a change of clothes, water and lots of baby wipes and cotton buds to clean up. You definitely want to clean yourself up before you enter in your car, unless you want your car to look like Joseph’s amazing technicolor dreamcoat. Remember to blow your nose and use the cotton buds to clean your ears. You would be surprised on how much powder is in there!
- Plan your time accordingly as the line-up to get into Downsview Park was a bit of a headache. For your reference, parking there was $10.
Have you done a colour run before? How did you like it?