photo c/o http://www.coolrunning.com
This year we decided to get even more active as a family and do more outdoor activities together. Now my wife and I have been very active in the past years and are probably in better shape now then we were in our high school years; which were a long long time ago as she likes to remind me. The only thing that bothered us though was the fact that our two young men don’t get enough outdoor activities at school and we noticed that they get winded a little easier than we like and were lacking the stamina to keep up with their really old parents. We, as parents felt that we should not be able to out run and out last our kids plain and simple. Since we couldn’t turn to the school system for help to get more PE and physical activities in their lives we decided to start working out as a family together.
We all put on our work out clothes, stretch out, lift and obviously run as a family even if it’s on the treadmill. Not only was this an awesome bonding activity to do together but it also made them excited when we told them they would have a fun run to do at the end of all this training. This way they have a goal to work toward and further reason to want to work out harder. Now I know when most people hear words like running, working out and 5K they don’t always think of fun, however I am here to tell you “The Color Run” was just that.
photo c/o http://www.runrevolution.com
My wife and I went downtown to Container Park to pick up our race packets after work and everybody was extremely nice and enthusiastic which just made the event more spectacular. Saturday morning rolled around and although it was very early in the morning we were all ecstatic to be attending. We put on all of our colorful outfits that we previously picked out to represent our goofy selves and drove downtown to Fremont St. and Las Vegas Blvd., immediately knew we were in the right place. Music was playing loud, a rainbow colored “runicorn” was walking about as we approached the start line and the M.C. could not have been any better at getting us all warmed up and ready to run. He had the entire crowd dancing and singing at 8:00 am just to warm us up and prepare us for what was ahead.
Notice that we are still clean.
After singing the National Anthem with a few thousand of our new friends, we were off. We ran down Las Vegas Blvd. and as we turned the first corner we could see the giant blue cloud that we were eventually going to be covered in. As we ran, the volunteers pelted us with blue powder while we speed and jumped through the cobalt color puff. We looked at each other in disbelief of the fun we were having while we were exercising. We ran and around every turn there was another color cloud and another, green, yellow and pink and before we knew it we made it to the end and ran through the rainbow colored finish gates.
Once we arrived at the finishing area we had our pictures taken and went to the main stage where we all danced and had fun and then the countdown begun. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 poof and giant rainbow colored cloud went soaring sky high and filled the area around us. We danced with our family members and a ton of fun likeminded people until the air cleared and then we saw ourselves. Everyone looked like an explosion of color had blasted them in the faces and covered every inch of their bodies. Before we left Zappos provided us with towels and fans to help to blow off some of the color and assist in cleaning us up before we got back into our cars. Needless to say we are now hooked on running these 5K‘s as a family and look forward to many more fun runs in the future.
If you are looking for a great family environment to help motivate fitness and healthy living, sign up for the next Color Run in your area or any of the many fun runs that are scheduled for this upcoming year. Even if you walk the entire way, you will have the time of your life, meet new friends and you may be surprised at how much fun you can have in the name of fitness!
