The Color Run NJ Recap / My Second First 5K

I know you're all anxiously awaiting this post, so I'm just going to get right to it.

Since I decided to do this run kind of last-minute, I didn't really have much of a plan.  I knew that a few of my friends were running in this one, so I reached out to my friend Anna & we planned on meeting up.  I knew that she would be walking, so I figured I'd start with her and then I'd run and she would walk, and I'd wait for her at the finish line.  No pressure for me to walk with her since I was a last-minute add-on, and I didn't feel guilty about running ahead.  Perfect.

Getting Started

The whole day started out with a completely different feel than the NYC run.  Last week started out bittersweet & sentimental and then I was super excited & full of energy.  I felt great, I felt strong, I was ready to go!  Today, however, was much different.

I woke up not well rested and I was stressed out.  Reilly didn't sleep well the night before and he finally settled into a position that was very uncomfortable for me.  I had also wanted to run last night for a bit but it just got too late & I had to leave for my mom's house or else I would have gotten even less sleep than I did.  So even though I got to wake up almost 2 hours later than last weekend, I rose feeling groggy, stiff, achy & unprepared.  I ate exactly the same thing for breakfast I did the the week before (and most mornings now) but it just wasn't sitting right & I started having an unsettled stomach before I even left the house.  I'm pretty sure it was just nerves.  But I was unsettled and shaky, even as we got to the start line I was concerned as to how I would hold up because I was not confident in how I felt.  But I'll get to that later.

This time I got to drive through a different part of the town I grew up in, and instead of having great memories of times past, I noticed how much things had changed and how run down it all looked.  The roads & houses were surprisingly unkept, there was trash in the street and on lawns - it was kind of depressing!  When I got to the venue I found out that Anna had hit a lot more traffic on her way in than I did so I had about a half an hour to kill before she got there.  Being a lone wolf amidst a sea of groups of people for something like the color run is kind of intimidating!  At first I was a little nervous and awkward; it has been a long long time since I've really dome anything by myself, let alone something like this!  But after a few minutes I made up my mind to just go with it and have a great time.  And I did.  There were tons of great outfits - a group of people wore snorkels & water wings, another girl wore a white prom dress, and another group had duck tubes around their waists.  Most of these people were interacting with everyone and cheering anyway so I started to feel more comfortable as the morning went on, and I found that if you look like you're looking for someone you feel less out of place as well.  I also ran into my friend Donna who was working EMS, and I bumped into the kids' pediatrician as well.  Weird.  But I was definitely happy to meet up with Anna, and the day got much better once she got there :)  We made our way to the start line and off we went!

I wanted to try to time myself just to get an idea of how I run outside, especially since this was my first time!  My phone has a stopwatch on it so I started it once I crossed the start line and kept my fingers crossed that nothing disturbed it while I ran.  Last time I kept the phone in a pouch on my waist and all sorts of buttons were pushed.  This time I kept it in a pouch in my water bottle holder and it worked out much much better.

This is Different

Once we got started it was easy to see that there was a big difference between these participants and the NYC ones.  Last week, most people ran or jogged.  A decent amount walked, but we were definitely in the minority with that.  And as we approached each color station everyone collectively started running through it.  This was much different.  I would say that most of the people were walkers and the runners were the minority.  I did my best to run around the walkers, but there were plenty of times where they spanned from end to end with no way around until the path opened up.  I did my best to keep even a slow jog, but there were points where I had no choice but to walk just because there was nowhere else to go.  Some runners expressed annoyance at this, which I thought was a bit uncalled for.  It's the color run people, not the Boston Marathon!  I found the course itself to be odd; It started on pavement and moved to what appeared to be gravel.  There were points where it was a lot of sand, and in my attempts to run around people I ran over grass as well. 


The biggest difference between the two runs were the color stations.  Every time we approached one we came to a standstill because there were lines formed to get doused with color.  I don't know if it was lack of volunteers or if the people in the NJ run just approached this differently, but it was difficult to navigate through the color stations because everyone was stopped.  Also, the method of color distribution was much much different - where NY had tons of volunteers with condiment bottles filled with color and they would chase you down to make sure you got covered, NJ had only a few people at each station who were stationary at giant barrels of color.  They would reach into the barrel with what appeared to be a cup (not 100% sure because it was hard to see) and just toss it on to the people who passed them.  There was no cat and mouse chase, and if you were able to make it through the middle at all, you just didn't get colored.  I really only got hit with one color since I tried to keep running as much as I could and opted for the free and clear center as opposed to waiting on line to have color dumped over my head. 

And because of the way this color was being tossed, every color station was nothing more than a giant cloud of color dust & it was really hard to see & breathe.  After most sections the jogging slowed waaayyy down just because it was too dangerous to keep going fast - I really couldn't see more than maybe an arm's length in front of me!  Like I said, I'm not sure if everything boils down to lack of volunteers/staff, but I feel like this run was much less organized than the NYC one and more difficult to navigate.

Running

So enough about the comparisons between the two races.  This one was a run for me so let's talk about that.  Since this was my first time running outside, I was finally able to tell the difference between treadmill running & street running!  So my legs definitely felt this much more than I normally do.  Overall, I'd say that running on the road is both easier and harder than running on a treadmill.  I think I have to do more running outside to determine which one I like more though.  My legs felt this more, but if I got tired it was easier to slow it down to where I was comfortable without having to try to figure out which pre-programmed speed worked best.  I just go with what my body tells me.  Also, I am apparently awful at picking a pace & sticking to it!  I started off running pretty hard. I knew it was faster than I normally run, but I went with it for as long as I could and eventually fell back a little only to get passed by people I had already passed.  I found it easier if I kept with a group of people.  For most of the run I was behind a girl with eyes drawn on the back of her butt.  She was running with two guys and they all kept a pace that I was fairly comfortable with.  I followed them around groups of people and through the color zones.  At some point they lost one of the guys and stopped and I pushed forward, but I found another group to stay behind.

I went into today's run just hoping to beat 35 minutes, and wasn't sure how I would do because I felt so shaky and unprepared this morning.  The heat also took a little bit of a toll on me because when I put the handkerchief up over my nose and mouth through the color zones, I felt like I was suffocating!  The air was thick and soupy so that took some time to adjust to.  Add all of the time times I was forced to walk and the few complete stops we had, I figured I'd be in the high 30's if not the 40's.

After I crossed the finish line I had to make sure I was able to get to a place where I could stop & check my time without being right in the middle of people.  And when I did, I was very pleasantly surprised to see 33:15!!  I couldn't believe it!!  To me, this means one of two things...either my treadmill at home is not calibrated right and I am actually running faster than it's telling me I am, or the course was not a complete 3.1 miles.  I don't know.  So let's just go with I'm running faster than the treadmill says I am for now, haha.  We'll know more once I do the run on September 15th anyway, so let me be delusional and happy for now :)

Conclusion

Overall this was not a bad second first 5K experience, lol.  I am very happy that I did it and took on the challenge of not only running in general, but the whole lone wolf social aspect of it as well.  I'm also pretty happy with my time too, all things considered.  Now I really can't wait for the next time!

So there you have it, mission complete.  I ran my first 5K race and survived.