Thousands of runners throw up various colored dusts into the air. The crowd begins to cheer and dance around as the colors fall into their hair. Their once crisp white outfits now covered in yellow, blue, orange, pink, green, and purple. This is the Color Run, “the happiest 5K on Earth,” according to their website thecolorrun.com.
The Color Run is a five kilometer race where a different color is thrown at the runners once they run past each kilometer. The dust that is thrown is an edible dyed corn starch.
At every city the Color Run is held at, the event donates a large portion of their money to a different local organization. Baltimore’s organization was Cool Kids Campaign, an organization, which is dedicated to improving the lives of children who are suffering from cancer.
Before the race started, there were many festivities that got everyone active and moving. The M&T Bank Stadium parking lot was filled with thousands of color runners decked out in their color run t-shirts. There was a stage for Zumba dancing, and crowds were following the lead of the Zumba instructors. A beach ball was bouncing among the crowd. The festivities may have been more fun than actually running the race.
When the race finally began, an eight year old cancer survivor counted down from ten to kick off the race. After this, the crowd was let out in waves. Volunteers for the race threw out free items such as t-shirts, sunglasses, and fanny packs. They also cheered on the crowds as they were let into the race.
There were people on the sidelines who would give us high fives as we ran down the race path. The first color that was being thrown was yellow, the second was blue, the third was orange, the fourth was green, the fifth was pink, and the end color was purple.
As runners approached the giant arches of color being thrown by volunteers, and we could see huge clouds of yellow, blue, orange, green, or pink. The volunteers were enthusiastic, and runners could tell that they wanted to be there.
After the race, each runner got a packet of color and the runners had a color throw. The giant mass of people then threw their color up in the air which created a giant cloud of color.
The Color Run was definitely the best race we’ve ever been to. Not only was it fun, but it also raised money for a great cause. Additionally, the volunteers made it one of the most fun days of our lives. We wish The Color Run could happen every day.
Emily Cassidy is an A&E Editor Caitlin Wolfarth is a News Editor and Meredith Haggerty is a In-Depth Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com