The Color Run is off my bucket list!
Week 4, Days 4, 5, and 6 of NYC Marathon Training: Plumbing problems, a volunteer shift, The Color Run 5K (really 2.56 miles!), and a .69 mile run to the bus
Still trying to get caught up after a week without writing about this year’s marathon training! So I’m going to combine three days of training into one here! Easy to do here, since there was only one running day.
On Thursday, July 28, I was dealing with apartment plumbing problems, so I worked from home that day and missed my NYRR training class that night. Grrrr. Not a happy day!
Here’s what happened on the following two days, both involving one very popular race.
One of the things I have been blessed with in my running journey is that I have gotten the opportunity to do so many types of races. I’ve run the TCS NYC Marathon every year since 2016. I’ve run the Falmouth Road Race in Cape Cod, MA and the Flying Pig 4-Way With Extra Cheese in Cincinnati, OH, to name a few of the many non-NYC races I have done.
I have also done the Spartan Race multiple times at Citi Field and the Damon Runyon 5K once at Yankee Stadium.
But until last week, I had never done The Color Run, a race that calls itself The Happiest 5K on the Planet, even though I have been hearing about this event for many years.
The Color Run involves people throwing different colored powders as you as you run the course, usually at places like ballparks.
The race is very rainbowy and silly and I wanted to see what it was like. So I signed up to volunteer at Citi Field the day before this year’s Color Run, so I could get free admission and also get an inside look at the event.
I have volunteered at Citi Field multiple times to help out at the Spartan Race. including doing all-day shifts the day before the race, and I always had a great time. They treat volunteers very well, giving them not just free race entry to any race they want, but also lots of swag, snacks, merchandise credit, and even lunch.
It’s a for-profit company, but I always felt like I got the better of the deal with volunteering for the Spartan Race.
My experience at The Color Run volunteer shift wasn’t quite the same.
I was supposed to be there for five hours the day before the race, and when I checked in, the first thing I did was ask if they had a volunteers-only race slot the next morning, the way the Spartan Race does. The staffer I spoke to had an initial reaction similar to The Alamo tour guide when Pee-Wee Herman asked her where the basement was. It was like, in so many words, "We don’t give volunteers free entry into the race!”
I then sweetly asked her to please double-check on this.
In the meantime, I plotted my exit.
I love volunteering at races, but I wasn’t about to volunteer my time to go to a for-profit company without getting any sort of benefit for it. I mean, this isn’t exactly like when I give blood or something! Minimum wage in NYC is $15 an hour. If I’m going to spend five hours of my time helping out, I’d better be getting something good in return!
A few minutes later, the staffer returned with a race bib for me! Hooray!
However, there was no race shirt or drink pass included, not even the volunteer shirt we had been promised.
Fortunately, I eventually did get both the race shirt and the drink sampling wristband before I left the volunteer shift. (Suffice it to say that it pays to be nice to fellow volunteers!)
Most of my shift was spent wrapping the unicorn race finisher’s medal around a bag of colored powder. Tedious work, but I did enjoy talking to other volunteers and Color Run staffers, especially one truck driver who told me a lot about the event.
The next morning, I came back to Citi Field, after running to catch the express bus, and did the race.
Actually, it turns out that this is *not* technically a race. It’s untimed, something I didn’t know until the day before!
What’s more is that calling it The Color Run is a bit of a misnomer.
Not the color part — there is plenty of powder thrown at you throughout the race. And I did find it fun, albeit messy.
The run part is the misnomer!
The Color Run is a very popular family event, with parents and kids doing this together. Which is great. And much better than them sitting around at home watching TV 24/7.
But most people were not running this event. At all! I wouldn’t even call it a saunter.
No, most were walking very slowly for the entire event. I swear, I was like Shalane Flanagan compared to most of the six thousand or so participants!
Too bad there are no race result times to show that, for once in my life, I wasn’t at the back of the pack!
The “race” started on the Shea Bridge at Citi Field with a very high-energy emcee ushering 30 people or so at a time to cross the start line. Then we went around the ballpark and then onto the field.
I have gotten to walk on the field at Citi Field multiple times, and I still get excited over being at a big league ballpark’s field. So much fun!
No color was thrown at us, though, when we were actually in Citi Field. That made sense in retrospect. Imagine what a nightmare that would be to clean up!
Instead, volunteers didn’t throw powder on us until after we were in the parking lot, after leaving the ballpark pretty early in the event. (Pro tip: the truck driver I met the day before had told me to wear a bandana around my mouth and sunglasses to protect myself from the powder. Good advice! Glad I didn’t swallow any of it!)
They bill this race as a “5K,” but it was more like 2.56 miles, according to my Garmin. (Then again, most people weren’t wearing one of those!)
Squawker Jon wondered what people who thought this was really 5K will think when they actually *do* a 5K. Good question!
I will say that The Color Run is *not* chintzy when it comes to food and drink, as well as post-race amenities. Not only did they give out big, full Smartwater bottles, but they also had plenty of snacks, candy, more Smartwater, and even Cupcake wine after the race. It was really a great time.
But I think this is a “one and done” event for me. Glad I did it, but I won’t do it again!
Afterwards, I met up with Squawker Jon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We went to see the Winslow Homer exhibit before it closed — with bright colors that were done by painting, not by people throwing powder around!