Did the Bristol Color Me Rad this morning, which, despite the name was actually at the Bath and West showground near Pilton, handily for me as I live in Glastonbury.
Was quite taken aback by the huge queues of traffic at 8.30 on a Sunday morning and even more so on realising how many people were taking part in the race (to say nothing of the average age, which appeared to be about 20). It was huge fun though. The whole thing was much more like an MTV beach party than an athletics event - huge inflatable thingies, a bearded hipster MC chucking gifts out to the crowds of bouncy happy people, hula hoop challenges and paint... lots of paint. lots and lots of the stuff. The stall selling paint bombs and fire extingusher type thingies full of paint powder was doing a roaring trade and most people were plastered from head to toe long before the first wave toed the line. The atmosphere was great, the weather was perfect (I still can't imagine how it would work in rain) and the organisation impeccable.
The 'race' itself was definitely more fun than run. I had been nline last night and seen lots of serious runners pooh-poohing Colour runs because of all of the 'walkers and joggers' getting in their way and preventing them getting a good finish time, which I thought was incredibly po-faced and rather missing the point of the exercise - you don't go to a fun run to do a PB, but when it came to it I could slightly see their point: I would say maybe 10% ran the whole course and not much more than 20% ran even half. The vast majority ran the first and last hundred yards and just walked the rest of the way. Usually in groups of half a dozen to a dozen, all walking abreast. The waves were staggered in ten minute intervals and we overtook most of the two waves ahead of us, but it was hard work dodging around people all the time. I was amused by the number of walkers bemoaning the absence of water stations (although there were plenty of pint hurling stations), and was even more amused by the number of energy gel wrappers among the paint bomb litter.
But it was a lot more fun than my usual Sunday morning run, and my kids were completely hooked - they want to do C25k now so they can take part next time, and even my wife was making noises about having a go, so that is a great result. They also managed to get themselves covered in paint from head to toe, and the interior of my car now looks like a Pink Floyd stage set circa 1969. I noticed afterwards that the people who had done it before had taken the precaution of covering their car seats with polythene dustsheets.
Would hugely recommend to anyone and will definitely do again.
Hooray! I'm a graduate!
First Parkrun - yikes it was cold
10 (1979)
Phew... the rain held off and 15km done and dusted. 
5K Bubble Rush!
