Race Recap: The Color Run

This weekend was a 2 race weekend for me! And although they were both only 5ks, the whole experience left me feeling pretty badass! :)

On Saturday, I ran the Go Commando Adventure Run. You can check out the race recap here.  On Sunday I ran the Color Run at the Minnesota State Fair grounds in Minneapolis.

My before Picture

It seems like just about everyone is familiar with the different versions of the Color Run. It is essentially a 5k that has 4-5 different areas where volunteers throw a colored powder on you. Runners are encouraged to wear white clothing for a maximum effect!

When I signed up for this run, I was pretty excited. I had heard about many others who have had a blast at this type of run. I signed up right away when registration opened, but could not convince any of my running buddies to join me. No one else really thought having stuff thrown on you while you run sounded fun!

Starting Corral! Packed!

As "race" day approached, I also started feeling like this may not be as fun as I thought. I tried to keep a positive attitude, but just wasn't feeling it. I mean, I had a really cute outfit picked out, and everything, but I just couldn't get into the mood!


The morning of the run came, again my sister and boyfriend came along for support. My wave time was supposed to be 9:15am, but we got there early, and there were thousands of people!! The starting line was over 2 blocks long!! I just jumped in where I could and got started. I don't know what time I actually started running, but it was before 9:15.

In the starting corral, it first became apparent to me that this was not going to be so much of a run, but more of dodging walkers and strollers type of run. Most of the people I talked to in the corral, had never run a 5k before, or had actually never even run before and were just there to walk.

Strollers...

After quite a wait, we were let through the starting line, and to my surprise, we were actually moving at a pretty good pace! I think it was when I caught up with the wave that went before us that the traffic jam began! It was packed!! White shirts as far as the eye could see! It was a pretty cool sight!

Lots of people carried
their children & ran!!

I tried to keep a good pace, while dodging little kids, strollers and walkers. It was rough. At one point I even looked around to see that I was the only one of about 200 people who was actually running! People were actually looking at me like "what are you running for?"


It was a weird vibe.

About a 1/2 a mile in we hit the first color, blue! I ran through while the volunteers (who were covered head to toe in blue!) sprayed  me with the colored powder. I was disappointed that not much of it actually stuck to me! It wasn't really sticking to my clothes, but more to my arms and face and teeth
(I was smiling!)

Just about every 1/2 a mile there was another color. People were so excited to get this powder thrown on them. It was actually pretty funny! As much as I tried to get a lot of powder sprayed on me, it just wasn't sticking!

By mile 3, I was sick of dodging people, and really happy to see the finish line. I just wanted to be clean again!

My "after" picture! Not a ton of color...

According to my "fans" I finished in just under 38 minutes. Not a PR by any means, but pretty good considering the amount of people and the back and forth path I had to run!

The finish line was a huge back up that lead into the post party. This part was pretty cool, as they have color explosions every 10 minutes. But it was so crowded! They said there were more than 20, 000 people in the post party when I crossed the finish line, and more were coming in!! CRAZY!!

My sister took these pictures, I am in there somewhere!

We didn't stay very long at the party, just long enough for me to get in on one of the color explosions. I was tired of the crowd. The clean up of this type of race wasn't so bad. There is no clean up at the race its self, so I just stripped down to my compression shorts and sports bra, wrapped a beach towel around myself and got in the car. At home it was much harder than I thought to scrub the color off of my skin, it took forever! And even though I bleached my clothes, the color did not come out. :(

While this is not a  race  run I will probably do in the future, I am glad I experienced it once. I always think it is amazing to see so many people getting excited about exercise! Even if they were not running, they were out there! I can see that this type of run is a springboard for some to try other 5ks and get into running.

Color Explosion!

I also think it is cool to see so many people having a great time together. There were no issues, everyone was happy! That is such a great thing to witness!

Here are some tips if you are planning on doing this type of run:

1. Wear a cotton shirt. While is it not comfortable to sweat in, I think it holds more color. I wore a tech top and it did not catch much color.

2. Wear old shoes! I wore some shoes I really didn't care too much about, but at times I was plodding through ankle-high colored powder! So, your shoes really take a beating!

3. Run with a group! I think this race would have been a lot more fun with a group of people, running alone was pretty boring.

4. Don't expect to PR or even run the whole way! These runs are money makers and they are crowded! Do not expect people to respect or even know about race etiquette!! Walkers are everywhere!

5. Make sure anyone coming to watch is wearing clothing that can get dirty! My sister never dresses down and was not happy when she got some color on her "good" shirt!!

Have you ever done a Color Run? What did you think?

Go Commando! My First Mud Run!

Today was my very first mud/obstacle run experience. I ran the Team Ortho Go Commando 5k in Minneapolis.

To say I was a little nervous about this run, would be a huge understatement! I was more nervous about this race than I have been about any other race I have run. I guess the reason being, is in a traditional road race, you know what you are getting into, but a mud run has a bunch of surprises waiting around each corner! And, anyone who knows me, knows that getting dirty and muddy is not really my thing! 

We had a huge storm last night, and this morning when I woke up it was still pouring, which made me even more nervous-- more mud!! By the time we made it to the parking area, the rain had stopped, and it was quite chilly. 

On the bus. Very unsure!

My boyfriend and my sister both accompanied me to this race, and I was really excited to have the support! They both took the pictures you are seeing here, and did a great job cheering me on and making me smile!

Once we parked, we got on a school bus and were bussed to the race area. The bus ride seemed to take forever, and it was making me even more nervous. Once we finally arrived, we got a good view of the course and I was about ready to turn around and just head home. It was pretty intimidating!

When trying to decide to what I should wear to this race, I decided to just go with what I am comfortable with, and I rocked my favorite Team Sparkle skirt and Blood, Sweat and Sparkle tank. I was unsure of what type of shoes to wear, and ended up going with my Five Fingers, which I was really happy with during the entire race! I was feeling pretty badass about my outfit, and it gave me some courage to get in the start corral! 

The beginning of the race was pretty easy, just nice rolling hills, until I hit the first obstacle. This was by far the scariest of them all! It was an up-and-over cargo net. The whole thing was pretty shaky and the hight of it was pretty scary too. It took me longer to get across this obstacle than I thought, and then I was off running to a very similar obstacle. sans cargo net. This one was much easier and I was able to climb over it pretty quickly!

Up the this point I was still clean and dry! Just a few more feet and I was running through thigh-high water and mud!! It was actually more fun than I thought it was going to be, and after crossing the first water, I felt much more comfortable with the whole race. 

Log crossing! 

A few more hills, and I came to the 2nd water crossing, it was a long series of logs that runners were expected to run across. With my Five Fingers on, I felt really stable on the log, but there were a lot of people on the log and one woman started spinning the log (yup, it was like a fricking Lumberjack competition!), and everyone fell off (including me!) into the chest-high water!!! 

Just a short run and I came across another obstacle in which I had to shimmy across some skinny boards, it was pretty harmless and allowed me to get back to running pretty quickly! Then came another water crossing, where I pretty much had to just run through some ankle/shin high water. 

Next came a longer run, and another obstacle where runners had to jump over some large hurdles. Up another hill and I came to an obstacle called "Over & Under". This one was hard for me, as I had to climb a wall, and then go under a second wall, there were 3 sets of these, and I was very tired afterwards! 

We finally hit mile 1!! I think that was the longest mile I have ever run!! 

Back to more water crossing, running across hay bales and a very steep and muddy hill! By this point I was really getting into the whole idea of a mud run, and having fun with it. This is the point I also met a couple who run mud runs just about every weekend! I had a great time chatting with them as we climb some more hills. 

I don't really remember the order of the next few obstacles, but there was a series of pretty easy obstacles, and a snow machine spraying us with water. This part of the race went really fast, thanks to the people I met on the course!

We ran down a really large hill and were back to the start, only to run up the HUGE hill that I was eying when I arrived at the race. This hill was a killer!

I'm 1/2 way there!!

At the top of the hill we came across a dumpster full of foam rubber, which we had to dive into and cross. The foam was very dirty and it was the only obstacle that felt really gross! 

After climbing out of the dumpster, we ran pretty much through a corn field, it was super muddy and slippery. I took it very easy, not wanting to twist my ankle! Half way around the field was a traditional tire run, and then the dreaded monkey bars! I really sucked it up on the monkey bars, but was happy that the course volunteers make each runner try the obstacle! I got 1/2 way across the monkey bars before falling.

We were now at mile 2.5! We ran down another hill, went through sniper alley (where snipers spray you with red water out of water guns!), and then down the water slide!! The water slide was so much fun! It dropped you back to the starting area, and dumped you into a pit of cold and muddy water! 

Ouch!

Bottom of the water slide

After getting out of the water, I ran up a sand hill, did a tire toss (think crossfit), crawled under a bunch of wooden objects, jumped over fire and made one more water crossing before coming to the finish line and the mud pit. The mud pit was deep, and sticky. Runners were supposed to crawl through the mud to the finish line. I was a little hesitant, but dove in and crawled towards my finisher's medal. This was the most painful part of the race as the mud was mixed with gravel, and just tore up my knees!!

Out of the mud pit, I was awarded with my finisher's medal, and headed over to the fire hoses and bubble pit to clean off!

It was really hard to get all of the mud off, so I did my best and then changed into some clean, dry clothes! 

Overall, it was a really good experience, and I was surprised at how tough I actually was able to be! I did not hesitate getting muddy and dirty, and had a lot of fun! 

While this is not a type of race that I will do a lot of, I will probably do this same race next year. I think my boyfriend and sister want to run it too! 

I really enjoyed the set up of the race (Team Ortho races are so well done!), and the venue of the race was really nice! It was fun not to worry about my time, and to just have fun with the run! 

If you are in Minnesota, and want to try a mud run, I highly recommend this one to you! If you are thinking about trying a mud run and are nervous about it, my advice is to find a 5k, and just go for it!! 

Tomorrow I am running my 2nd race of the weekend: the Color Run! Re-Cap to come!! :)

Have you done a mud run before or do you want to do one? What did you think of it? 

Saucony Virrata Review

It has been over two years since I switch to running in minimal shoes. I decided to make the switch due to some serious shin splints I was dealing with. I cannot remember accurately where I read about using minimal shoes to help ease (and in some cases, completely stop) the pain of shin splints, but right away I went out and bought the most minimal shoe I could find: the Vibram Five Fingers. Right away I fell in love with the feeling of running, and it was these shoes that I feel allowed me to make some big gains in my running form, speed and endurance. I was, for the first time ever, running without pain in my shins!

 It didn't take long, however, to figure out that training for a 1/2 marathon was going to require a bit more cushion that what the Five Fingers were providing me. I made a switch to the Rebox Flex, which I loved even more than my Five Fingers, and I happily ran many races in, including my first 1/2. During that race, I lost 3 toenails and decided that I really needed to get serious about the shoes I was wearing and the fit of the shoe!!!

I was turned on to Newton's and fell in love all over again! I have gone through 4 pairs of Newton's now and have to say they are the shoes that work the best for me. I feel fast, and stable in Newton's, they are my go-to shoe!

With that being said, I am still searching for the "perfect" shoe! I love my Newton's, but I am always curious about what is out there, and what I may be missing out on.

Recently, I have heard a lot about Saucony. I wanted to stick with a zero-drop shoe, and I was introduced through many reviews, to the Saucony Virrata. I have never run or worn Saucony shoes, so I was game to try something new.

I have HUGE feet (I wear a women's 11 in regular shoes, and tend to wear a 12 in running shoes!!), so I went with the men's version of the shoe. Men's shoes are always perfect in length, but too wide (my foot is super narrow!). This particular shoe fit really well in both length and width! So from the start, I was excited about this shoe.

I wore them a couple of times on the treadmill, and loved every minute of the run! The shoe was definitely a minimal shoe, it was so light, I felt like I wasn't wearing anything, but on the same hand, they were very cushy, and had really good support.

Once the weather got to the point I could run outside, I took them out on the street, where they did not disappoint. They are great on many surfaces, asphalt, sidewalk, gravel, and grass (my daily route is this varied!!).

I will definitely be buying another pair of these shoes! I do not wear them on all of my runs, as I have found that I miss the feeling of the Lugs on my Newtons, and run in them about every other run.

I am very picky about my shoes, and am always looking for another shoe to try. I bought these shoes because others have also had success with them. My opinions are my own.

I just purchased the Saucony Kinvara 4, and am looking forward to trying it out. While not considered a true minimal shoe, I am excited to see what it is like. Look forward to a review!

What is your go-to shoe or shoe brand? Do you run in minimal shoes?