Race Review: 50 Shades of Cray and the Baltimore Color Run

On May 11, my friends, sisters, and I ran the Baltimore Color Run. Our team consisted of the same crew that did the Lozilu Mud Run last year. I had never done a color run before so it looked pretty interesting. By the way, I use the word "run"quite loosely because this race is more for the fun aspect with it not being timed. I jokingly called it the "Color Frolic," but for those who don't typically run, this event just might be the gateway into more serious races, so I'm all for it. :)

Here's a before shot of our team, "50 Shades of Cray!" So fresh and so clean!

Here's a shot of the Beltrano sisters and our colorful socks! We all wore fun colorful knee high socks which was a nice touch!

N.J. made me a special shirt because it was my birthday. It says, "It's my birthday today! Wish me a colorful day." What made this a funny shirt was that a lot of people wished me a happy birthday while I was running the course and I didn't realize they were talking to me, LOL!

When the race was about to begin, there were a ton of people at the starting line, waiting to get the show on the road. Unfortunately, they were doing a wave start so it was taking FOREVER for to get started. Unlike the Nike Women's Half that I did a few weeks ago (where I wished there was more of a wave start), for a race of this nature, I didn't feel that it was necessary to make people wait to start running. After about thirty minutes of waiting, my teammates and I went "rouge" and broke through the barricades and started on the course, and many people followed suit.

 

After we got started, we made our way through the course, which was between Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. 

One important thing to note is that in order to get really colorful, you have to run kind of slow through the color stations. That way, the volunteers can pelt you with powder, thus saturating you with color! Also, the sunglasses, while cute, also were functional as they protected our eyes from the colored powder!

 

The atmosphere was friendly and the crowds we're energized. I would also like to note that there was adequate water stations and port-o-potties on the short 5k course because I had used both within the first mile of the race! 

Thanks N.J. and T.H. for the all the cool photos!

Luckily, the rain stayed away for much of the race while we were running. Toward the end of the race, it did start sprinkling a little harder; however, we made it back to the car just in time. Although the beginning of the race got off to a rough start due to what I thought was an unnecessary wave start, it was a fun way to get my birthday started off right!