Color me in Paint!

This is not the plan! Seriously WTF? Its 04:37 and I am sitting here with a cuppa,why? Bloody good question.The day has arrived, the day of my first ever event to do with running or exercise its the Color Run.
 I had planned it out, the race stars at 10 am so up at 6 for cuppa and, breakfast giving me plenty of time for body to deal with it and me time to get everything sorted. Now I also made a point of getting a good nights sleep, so turned off computer around 20:30 on Saturday night aiming to be a sleep by 21:00 waking at 06:00 giving me at most 8-9 hrs sleep, at worse 7 hours. Great plan of attack, dinner was good and not too heavy and done and dusted by 18:00, all ready to rock for today. 

Yeah right.....I found myself waking about 3 am, it was warm so got up to pee, and put on the A/C to cool the place down shutting itself off in 30 mins. That came and went as did 4 am, and when it was 4:30 bugger me I am not trying to force myself asleep now, as I'm fully awake, so here I am...
 Breakfast will still be at 6 am otherwise if I have it now I'm going to be real hungry by 10 am and all I want is to eat about 3 prunes about 15-30 mins before Race starts, then finish it off post race with something like a Banana.

 So how do I feel.....nervous as shite, scared I'm gonna fick this up, excited to actually achieve a result and to finally meet up with some MFP buddies, looking forward to being covered in paint with pics to capture the day. My right foot feels tense which is making me extra cautious, nervous especially after Fridays wogging effort. Perhaps its feeling the weight of expectation also (more like the weight of 117 kg lolz). But all I can do is my best. I'm not where I ideally wanted to be at this stage, but the fact I am still wogging is a positive and to be fair this run was always going to be a test for me anyway, to see if this is what I wanted to pursue, if these events are what I want to aim for, weather I can manage to attempt this in the crowd of bodies. I will find all this out and more in just over 5 hours, Ill let ya know how it pans out :)

I am still buzzing about Sundays Color Run, and I will attempt to convey my thoughts/feelings on the day, so please bare with.

 So I live about 40 mins away from the Pukekohe Raceway where the event was being held. I left at 8:30 hoping to get there just after 9, all good until traffic slowed progress right down. It took me about 25 mins to get off the Motorway (good place to pop the prunes in my mouth),but thanks to some back roads I parked up around 9:30, popped on my runners and headed to the entrance. I was waiting for the rest of the team to arrive and they also were stuck in  the chaos of traffic, so I headed down to see my good friend and #1 Color Run volunteer Becs! Had a quick chin wag with her before wandering around then onto the place I said I was waiting. 10 am came and soon went as I saw the mass of people starting (9000 entrants) in the first wave. Time went and as I continued to wait I watched the first person to finish the run cross the line, soon followed my others some splashed in color and others almost looking as if they had just jogged from their cars they were that clean, I would find out myself later why this was.

 Anyway, soon enough after a bit of txt find and seek Team Beast was assembled and ready to rock.

We got our swag on and started the race just after they had released a group of others and soon we were weaving our way through the other folks some dancing, some running but alot just walking and enjoying themselves, in different hats,wigs and other assortments of attire. Before I knew it we had arrived at the color Green marking our first kilometer and a few sprinkles of color to go with it.

 The music was blaring and we started photo-bombing various people taking pics and soon it became clear in this event we would have to provide alot of the fun and entertainment ourselves. We had run a fair bit of it by now from the start and to me it was already an accomplishment having run so much, and surprised me to be honest, helping me push on still feeling good and enjoying the time.

 Pink was our next marker and I managed to spot the one and only #2 Warriors fan the Mt Smart Joker himself doing an awesome job covering anyone and everyone in pink, a high five later I also joined the Pink brigade, joining the small green I had collected. Not far from here the ZM pic frame was graced by Team Beast (still trying to find the pic hint hint ZM) as we ran on and soon to the 1/2 way point and water station where Janine had to quench her thirst. 

Smurf time ahead as we approached the Blue Zone and we knew by now that to get any decent color on we were gonna have to roll with it, literately because to be honest the vast majority of the people at the color stations were obviously well and truly over it by now and it detracted from the supposed Color Run theme, and if I thought it was bad, yellow was next. Boy oh boy they were the utter pits!! Seriously your here for FREE all ya need to do is be enthusiastic for about 2 hrs making sure the people who spent good money to have a good time were colored and the fact we had to seek you out and almost beg to be covered was a major downer, heck I was tempted to grab the bottles of paint myself and actually get it done. 

We got on our grove and planned to run the last km to the end which I struggled with, as by this time I was feeling it so I walked up the hill and a bit more but made the effort to push ahead and cross the line running, which I did achieve. 
At the finish we grabbed a bottle of drink and our Color packs greeted by our #1 volunteer and fellow MFP crazy Becs who was doing an awesome job at the finish line and we headed to the stage area for a color throw just missing out by seconds on one of them but the paint was airborne and the party was on

The party seemed to be more of where the event was aimed at based on the comparisons we had experienced, which was a shame as sure the finish is something to celebrate and it was great to party after. But maybe if they had put as much effort into the actual race experience especially at the color zones as they seemed to have put into the stage post run area the overall experience would have been one to truly ramble on about. Soon enough it was time we said our goodbyes and headed home. It took me 1 hour to leave the car park  (Banana time) and it was almost 3:30 by time I arrived home, happy and with a massive sense of achievement.

For me the Color Run was a landmark event in my life, a beginning if you will. I started my running just as a way to increase my fitness/exercise and as a step up from the walking I was doing, in early to mid November. Becs was the one to mention the event to me and until I looked into it I had never thought about doing any kind of run event before. But I soon signed up joining Team Beast in early December, and making the Color Run a true first for me. I did have a great day, I enjoyed the experience and the running itself. 

The shortcomings I encountered in the event did not take from this overall experience for me. Sure it could and should have been far better but the biggest thing was actually completing the event. The 2 weeks leading up to the run had not been good for me health wise and the training was inconsistent at times. I am a complete novice at this and anything of its likeness. I had battled nerves, apprehension, excitement and doubting weather I had made a wrong choice in entering, all this and more leading into and including the day of the event. But once I had met the girls from Team Beast and we had started the run all of that vanished. 

To be honest the girls each deserve a special mention for helping me getting through the event and helping to make the day a fun day. They made me feel as a team member even though towards the end I probably slowed them down and if I had to walk they would also walk and that helped get me going again, not once did they leave me to my own devices and TOGETHER we finished as a team. So to Capt Janine, Amy, Melissa & Janey thank you all for helping make this experience one I will remember as a fun filled day with encouraging and supportive people TEAM BEAST!

Based on my dumb phone app Runtastic, I covered 5.03 km at a pace of 8:54 in just under 45 mins. That is a PB for yours truly and I also ran longer non stop and more often than in any of my previous solo training's.

Onward and Upwards now........


Pics from my phone and also from of Team Beast.