My Most Colorful Run

I’m typing this blog post with blue stained fingers.

Why?

Color Me Rad 5K – that’s why.

When I woke up this morning, my only mission was to HAVE FUN!

No pace goal.

No finishing time goal.

No interval plan.

Just run.

And get blasted with color.

White T. Side ponytail. Let’s go.

 I woke up early. I am NOT a morning person, so on race days I woke up especially early so I’m not “living dead girl” at the start line.

Usually, I eat a healthy pre-race meal (toast or a bagel with peanut butter and a banana), but today I knew my only mission was to have fun…and we have zero food at the house, so I stopped by McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin. I was hoping I wouldn’t regret that decision later (thankfully, I didn’t).

When I was about one mile away from the State Fairgrounds (the parking and race area), traffic was at a stand still. I looked at the clock.

8:18 am.

Okay, I have plenty of time.

Around 8:47 am, I only moved about 200 feet. I was supposed to meet my co-worker, Emily, at 8:45 am near the start line.

Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen….I was getting extremely nervous that I would miss my start time.

I text my friend Meggie (I saw on Twitter that she already arrived at the race), and asked if she parked at the State Fairgrounds. I was hoping she would reply and saw she found a secret (free) parking lot.

She replied back and said, “Yes- start passing people and jump in at a later start time.”

Even though part of me just wanted to give up and go home, I knew Meggie was right. I need to suck it up and run during a later wave. 

Around 9:05, I pulled into the parking lot. I saw a bunch of people in white shirts running to the start line, so I followed them. As I was heading toward the start line, I heard people screaming. I thought of my friend Jenny, who was starting at the 9:05 wave. As I got closer, I didn’t waste any time jumping in another “wave” of runners. The group of friends in front of me had a ton of color packets. They were throwing color all over the place. I was happy when one of them turned around and splashed me with some color.

I’ll be fine.

I’ll have fun.

After all, that is my only goal! 

By 9:15 am, I was off for my first completely solo race.

About to run into a cloud of pink!!

A lot of people were walking, so I was running on sidewalks and “off road” to pass people.

Passing people was an interesting concept because usually people are passing ME!

At times, I was jealous I didn’t have friends with me to stop and take fun pictures. I tried to easedrop in a few conversations to pass the time. One girl was giving advice to her friend about half marathon training. I smiled and found myself agreeing with most of the things she said.

Color Me Rad isn’t a timed race and you don’t have mile markers…and because my iPhone was tucked away in my bra…I had no clue what my pace or mileage was…I had a feeling I was going fast, but a lot of people were stopping and waiting for the color clouds to blast them. The water line was also a hardstop.

But I tried to make up for it by running as much as I could!

At one point, I found one of the professional photographers. He wasn’t taking pictures, so I looked right at him and said, “HEY! Take a picture of me!!”

In true Ashley Sieb fashion, I jumped into the air only to come falling down on my butt.

When am I going to learn my lesson and stop jumping in the air for pictures?

Thankfully, the only thing injured was my pride. I heard a few people chuckle behind me.

For a split second, I pictured people whispering, “Who is this awkward chubby girl running by herself and falling all over the place?”

Who cares what people think, I reminded myself. I stood up and struck a final diva pose (just wait until you see these pictures, people- they will be great), and then I took off running again!

I ended up running most of the final mile. I later learned that my last mile was a 10:22 pace! AMAZING! 

The finish line.

The finish line was a COLOR explosion. Everyone was given a color packet and the color cloud was really thick! I had NO clue where I was going…I saw a few people rolling around on the ground like drunken hippies and I saw one mom get completely blasted in the face with color. I sneaked on through the finish line without a direct shot in the face or tripping over anyone…but when I snapped a picture of myself at the finish line…I realized I had a blue mustache!

Hey yo!

When I looked at my final time, I was blown away!

A personal best!!!!

When I got home, I quickly stripped down- realizing I had color ALL over my body (not just my clothes).

Colorful.

Overall, I had an amazing time during the race. The volunteers were a blast and the fellow runners kept me entertained along the way! My only wish is that I could have done the race with some of my friends.

So, who is signing up with me next year!? 🙂

Much love,
Ashley