The Color Run is Complete!

I promised photos and am finally going to deliver.

The Color Run in New Orleans was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. In fact, the whole New Orleans trip was great. It had been way too long since I'd been in New Orleans, and my guy had never visited the area. Plus, I was super excited about my first 5K.


On Friday, I had to pick up my race packet, but otherwise, we were free to explore. My guy is a man of history, so there were a few Civil War graves he specifically wanted to visit.  Which meant cemeteries were high on the list, and I had to get him to the French Quarter.

We visited the Metaire Cemetery to scope out Jefferson Davis's temporary tomb,a few notable monuments, and some history. If I'm not cremated, I want to be buried New Orleans style. The Moriarty monument, among others, would be a good model for me. ;) Next time we go back, we'll have to take a list of graves, their locations, and possibly a GPS unit. It'd be like geocaching for history! At least, that's what it'll be in my head. And maybe I should pack a lunch; he still has quite a list to visit. 

We went to the Quarter that afternoon. We had such a good time! Our lunch was in a place called Yo Mama's Bar & Grill. They had delicious hamburgers with what seemed like limitless toppings. The side choices were interesting, too.
My guy had never ran into Zydeco music before. Once we found it though, he didn't want to leave! I couldn't blame him. The first band was good and the margaritas were great. We watched a street performance dance that was really entertaining. Most of the living statue guys were angry with the NFL for some reason.(And my guy loved it!) 
All of the bands were fun. All of the drinks were tasty. I kept sipping on his drinks instead of getting my own. I was worried about being dehydrated during the run the next day. Josh and I decided that we'll have to go back some time when we can spend the whole evening in the French Quarter. We left before dinner that night. I missed the chance to have dinner with a couple of old friends from college, but maybe some other time. My guy and I had dinner at a hibachi grill on St. Charles Street. 

Race Day!

I knew there would be a lot of people, but I never realized there would be that many people! I couldn't see the end of the line behind me, and I was in the sixth wave! Once I started running, I couldn't believe I had been worried about the run just a few months earlier. The color stations were fun. You could see them from a distance as huge clouds of color. There were people around me dancing through the color while some people just completely stopped and played in it. 
As I got closer to the finish line, I realized there were still people that hadn't started yet. Boy, was that an ego boost! (Yes, I know that it doesn't really mean anything, but don't tell my self confidence that!) Just as I was approaching the finish line, I called my guy, so I could find him. He had already spotted me and started snapping photos of my victorious moment!
The finish line party was just as fun as the run. There was music constantly playing and every 10 minutes, there was a color throw. The color throws were when on a single countdown, everyone in the crowd with a color packet would toss the color into the air. There were many different colors and the effect was something like this:

The color throws were so much fun! In between the throws, the race crew would throw prizes into the crowd. The prizes mostly consisted of more packets of color for throws, but they also threw frisbees, socks, hoodies, &stuff! I caught a couple packs of color & had a lot of fun chunking them into the air. I was covered in color and so was my favorite race cheerleader.




I still can't believe I ran an entire 5K! It was amazing! I can't wait to do it again. Even better, my guy is all kinds of ready for the next one! And the next trip to New Orleans. We're talking about going to the Color Run in New Orleans again. I don't know if we'll make that one, but I plan on going to another Color Run. I also plan on running in a half-marathon, maybe longer!