We are excited to be a part of something fun for such a great cause and to be running/walking with some very good friends will make it that much more special. Our friend Lorry was kind enough to drive us to the Exposition Center the day before the race so we could register and pick up our numbers, backpacks, color dye and free t-shirts. They tell you to wear white because it shows up much better when you are blasted with all the colorful powder, but NOT to wear your favorite clothes just in case it doesn't wash out. Lorry expresses that she is a bit freaked out of not being able to breathe if they throw powder directly in her face and Jenn says, "we could get some of those medical mouth masks to wear, but I don't think it's necessary." Turns out that Richelle ended up having to work so Jenn went for both of them, but made sure Richelle was there in spirit (in the form of a picture fan she made) on this colorful adventure. She also made different colored sequin headbands for each person in their group to wear - you know Jenn and her props. Jenn woke up at 7:00am and was out the door by 8:15am to pick up Brooke and Brittney for the 9:00am start of the race. It ended up being a beautiful morning and not as hot as we were afraid it was going to be in Texas in August. We met up with Sarah and the rest of our group in the packed parking lot so we could all walk over to the starting line together. As Jenn greets her teammates, she steps in an ant pile and gets bitten right off the bat. After flicking the ants off of her and spewing a few cuss words, she hands out all the headbands she made - she even gets her girlfriend Ray's husband, John (the only guy in our group) to rock a black sequin headband. He was a great sport. Jenn looked a little like Elton John in her big sunglasses, sequins and feathers - HaHa!
We head over to the starting line and are happy to see the remarkable showing of people. There are so many people that they separate us into large groups, releasing us one group at a time, to keep the whole thing from being too congested. As we stand there waiting for our turn, there are lots of people wearing funny socks, tutus, wigs, hats and fun other things and showering each other in colorful powder. We are representin' in our sequin headbands.
And there it is... the loud signal we were waiting for to tell us it's time to GO - OK Austin, TX let's Run or Dye!!! And we are off!! We ran at first and then slowed down into a brisk walk.
There are four different color stations that you pass through as you run/walk. The first of which is YELLOW (Brooke's favorite color): As you run through each station, there are people standing on the sidelines to shower you with color.
The second is GREEN (Jenn's favorite color):
After being showered with the the first two colors we spot a water station where we can stop and fill up our bottle or grab a cup. We took full advantage of this. Jenn even let Richelle rest a moment while everyone drank - Gulp, Gulp, Gulp... OK let's keep going...
Then there is BLUE: Brittney did a sort of rain dance through the blue section (her favorite color) and the powder throwers were hi-fiving her as she did. We think they need to add a few more colors like orange and purple but that's just our opinion. The clouds provided shade for a good bit of the race, which we were very grateful for, because when the sun was out it was pretty hot. The only good thing about it being so hot was the sweat kept the colors on our skin and clothes.
Be sure not to talk when entering the color section or else you might end up with a mouth full of powder - yuck!
Hanna and Jenn took turns carrying the Richelle fan and Hanna was really good at making sure Richelle got immersed in color because it wasn't sticking to her very well.
Along the way, we stopped off to do a jump shot photo. They turned out pretty good, huh? Ray and John went first (look how good Ray's is... she was a cheerleader and it shows:) and who says white men can't jump? Then John took a photo of all the girls. Heck were all of the girls cheerleaders? Those are some pretty high jumps - except for Jenn's what the hell kind of jump was that?
The last section on the race was PINK: Richelle and Hanna's favorite color, so Jenn made sure Richelle was surrounded by a sea of pink.
After we passed through the finish line we stopped to take a group photo - Ta-Dah!! Hooray, we did it!! It took us aproximately 1 hour and 28 minutes. Don't we look like Easter eggs?
Then we headed to join the crowd for the color dance-party extravaganza. Let your colors fly people!!
Everyone had fun getting bombarded with colorful powder and we all looked pretty funny afterwards.
It was a great day and by the end of it we were starving. So we drove off to Vivo's hoping and praying they would let us in. As we opened the door, Jenn stuck her head inside and said, "are we allowed to eat here looking like this?" To our surprise the hostess welcomed us with open arms and even told us that she was bummed because she really wanted to do the race but had to work. Some of the employees stopped by our table to check us out and ask questions; but surprisingly none of the patrons eating there even gave us a second look. We guess we're just part of what keeps Austin Weird:)
On our way home from lunch, Brittney took a little siesta before stopping off at our local Walmart to pick up a prescription for Richelle.
While we were in the store we took full advantage of crazy photo opportunities (of course) and goofed off. We were like celebrities in there as people approached us left and right asking us questions, like what the hell is wrong with you? - Ha Ha.
As we were standing in line waiting for the prescription, the lady in front of us turned around and asked why we were painted up so colorfully. Jenn explained to her that we just came from the Run or Dye race benefiting Leukemia and Lymphoma. She proceeded to tell us the very sad story of how her three year old granddaughter recently passed away from Leukemia. We offered our condolences and expressed how very sorry we were and Jenn said, "we ran that race today for your granddaughter," and then the woman teared up and so did we. As she walked away, the three of us stood there in silence for a moment just looking at each other and then we smiled feeling extra proud to have been part of such an important event.
Wow! What a cool event! And how sad at the end.. Glad you were able to give some comfort to that lady. You girls rock!
ReplyDeleteIt was super fun and yes for a great cause!! It was really sad about her granddaughter but so cool that we met after just doing the race. It made us feel like we did something really good. Thanks for your continued support of our blog.
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