The Color Run, also known as the ‘Happiest 5k on the Planet’, is a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness and individuality.
“We call The Color Run the ‘Happiest 5K on the Planet’ because our events bring together friends and family in a unique, healthy and fun environment,” Travis Snyder, founder of The Color Run, said.
This 5k run is not a race; there are no declared winners. The distinctive quality of this race is that the runners get doused with a color chalk every kilometer, encouraging them to push to the next color.
The Color Run is a for-profit organization that allows anyone who’s involved to create long-lasting memories with a day of fun while getting healthy.
And the fun doesn’t end at the finish line.
After crossing the finish line, runners are greeted at the “Finish Festival,” which uses more colored powder to create an explosion of color over all of the runners. Bounce houses, blaring music, dancing and clouds of colored chalk everywhere are there to ensure the best 5k celebration possible.
According to The Color Run website, more than 60 percent of Color Runners are first-time 5k runners and the event is making headway on the growing national focus of improving health and wellness.
Students shared their excitement of their first experiences as both Color Runners and Color Run volunteers.
“I’m doing The Color Run because it’s the happiest 5k on the planet,” Dylan Sadata, junior in accounting, said. “This will be my first Color Run and I’m pumped and ready to go.”
Criminal justice senior Eric Delacerda said he is a first time Color Runner as well.
“I’m doing The Color Run because it’s the most fun race in the world,” Delacerda said. “I’ve never done this before but I trained pretty hard, I did zumba and everything.”
English senior Rachel Craigsmen said this is also her first Color Run.
“I wanted to do The Color Run because, well, it sprays you with color,” Cragsmen said. “Also, I did a mud run a while back and I figured this would be a bit cleaner.”
The runners aren’t the only ones having fun, as the race offers several volunteer opportunities, allowing helpers to get in on the excitement too.
“I volunteered at The Color Run because my work [United Supermarkets in Burkburnett] always volunteers for this kind of stuff around our area,” Selena Mize, freshman in art, said. “It was my first time to volunteer for something like this and I got to have a lot of fun with my coworkers.”
While dealing with the intense heat, the runners, volunteers and workers still found a way to have a blast.
“My least favorite part was the heat, but other than that, everything about it was my favorite,” Mize said. “We started handing out water to all the racers, cheering them on as they went, then we thought it would be great idea to pour water all over each other. After cleaning up our station, we went back to the finish line and all the runners were there, music was blaring and we joined in. The D.J. counted down ‘3…2…1’ and all you saw was bright colors of chalk fly into the air and cover everyone that was underneath it. It was pretty fun.”
According to The Color Run website, The Color Run has exploded since its debut event in January 2012. The event will grow from over 50 events and 600,000 participants in 2012, to over 100 events and over a million participants in 2013.