I was new to the whole Fun Run thing, and blow me down if this one didn't actually look like fun. So I decided that come hell or high water, I was going to do a Color Run, no matter where I had to go to achieve that goal.
The first time I mentioned this goal to anyone was at an informal 12WBT lunch gathering last Christmas. There were a few of us that wanted to do it, but one lady was very vocal about her dislike of it, as there had been some sort of scandal regarding where the money actually went.
This did worry me at the time as my only experience then had been runs that were charity driven, that is, that the money was raised for a specific charity, and I actually thought that all Fun Run type events were like that.
I did some research, and found out that the Color Run is a for profit event - which is to say that even though they donate a percentage of the proceeds to selected charities, their main reason for staging the event is to make money for themselves. I was disappointed, but was still keen to participate, it was an experience that I really wanted to have so I forked over my money.Never having participated in a for profit event before I had no idea of the scale of the merchandising that goes along with it. It was mind blowing! I suppose I should have realised it though when the entry fee was over $60 for something that I normally pay around $30 for, that it truly was all about the money...
The Newcastle event was scheduled for Mothers Day, and DD decided that she would do it with me. I like to think of it as part of my Mothers Day present.There ended up being heaps of people there that I knew, including Madam Lash and her family, but had no hope of finding anyone in the 10,500+ strong crowd! There were also some lovely 12WBTers that I would love to have met, but again - no hope of that. There were friends of DD's there too, who we actually did manage to find - only to lose them again as soon as the crowd began to move.
We were in the start area, and probably only 100m from the chute, but from the first crack of the starting gun it still took us 23 minutes to get to the actual starting line - people were being let through in waves and it took forever. We were all jammed in like sardines in a tin, so there was no hope of doing anything other than going with the flow.
To say it was chaos would be an understatement, but it was organised chaos.
Everything was thought about, planned, and organised right down to the last detail. After buying all your merchandise, there was pre-event activities like Zumba, and product give aways that had people behaving like feral animals for the sake of a free silicone wrist band! Once it began we were corralled into the start area, shooed through the chute, along the route, had powder thrown at us and dumped on us at various colour stations, had liquid colour squirted all over us - which was a huge surprise and more than a little bit chilly, then down the finish chute to collect more coloured powder to throw, and a bottle of water.
There were food and drink stands, more merchandising, a concert stage for the after party - everything you could want! Even a place where you could go to have the extra powder blown off you before you leave for home, as well as free huge plastic ponchos to wear on public transport. I took my own car, but grabbed the poncho anyway - why dirty my car seats?The chaotic part was the actual crowd participation along the route, which is not really something that anyone can do anything about, and it doesn't help that I'm not really one for crowds, but what I've noticed is that there seems to be two types of Fun Runs.
I'm not claiming to be any sort of authority on them, and I've only done five, but two of them - the Variety Santa Fun Run and the Swisse Color Run, stand out from the others for the same reason. There were far too many people participating, one because they wanted to raise as much as they could for a charity, and the other because they wanted to raise as much money as they could.
Events like the Santa Fun Run and the Color Run encourage everyone to have a go, to have fun while getting fit, doing something as a family, and in the case of the Santa Run, to help others in the process, and that's great, but when you have almost 11,000 people all going around the block at the same time - which is only 3km around - and there are so many different types of people participating... well... you get chaos. There were prams, and dancers, and runners, and walkers, and rollers, people randomly stopping in the middle of the path for a selfie, prams constantly colliding with other participants, runners having to weave in and out of walkers because the walkers wouldn't keep to the left, groups walking five abreast and blocking everyone else, people smashing into you because they aren't watching where they're going... in short - Chaos! The Variety Santa Fun Run wasn't as bad because the course for that one was pretty much a straight line, so even though there were similar numbers participating, it didn't seem as chaotic, I think because people had the chance to spread out more.
The others that I've done have had capped numbers so that the above problems are minimised, and I've realised that they are the sort that I like. Plus they seem to be the ones that are timed, I like that I can see my improvements on an official level. It means that I'm at the back of the pack, but that doesn't worry me, I won't be there forever.
DD had a blast though, and I think that it's probably more her type of event rather than mine... kind of like the Neon Run, it has more of a party atmosphere, whereas I just like to get in and do it, then go home.
I've done a Color Run now, goal achieved and I can tick it off my list, but I doubt that I'll do another one. Yes, I enjoyed it, but I didn't really have fun... strange...
All Fun Runs can be fun...
but some are more fun than others...
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