COLOR RUN!!

Today was incredible!  Back in early January I saw something on facebook about this Color Run 5k thing.  I looked at the website and pictures and just knew I had to be a part of it.  My sister Katie was wanting to train for a half marathon this year and I figured this 5k was a good place to start.  So, needless to say, I wrangled her into agreeing to do this crazy insane run with me.  Then I convinced Ben and due to scheduling conflicts with Julie, Katie's sister-in-law, we grabbed Jana, Ben's sister, as our 4th team member.  Team BRussell was set and I was ecstatic!  Katie was killing it with her training all month long and Ben and Jana and I had been walking and progressing to running for a couple weeks before the race.  Then a freak jumping jacks accident almost crushed my dreams of doing this race.  After seeking medical help, I was told I have a sprained knee and that my training was to be stopped.  I was devastated!  But with lots of prayers and being super careful with my knee for an entire week, I was feeling like I could at the very least, casually walk it.  So we picked up our packets and bought bright, new, white shirts and headed downtown.     

We had no idea what to expect since this was our first race and then to throw color in the mix, was all so overwhelming.  But the race was even better than I could of ever expected it to be and my knee felt great, so great in fact, we ran off and on throughout the whole 5k, running almost half total.  Katie blazed ahead and did amazing on her personal time and Ben, Jana, and I stuck together and loved every minute of it.

It was such a high running over the finish line and I felt like Rapunzel coming down from her tower as I proceeded to exclaim this to be "The Best Day Ever!"

Then every 15 mins they had a color throw with those that kept finishing, using the color packs we got in our packets.  I had teal, Ben had orange, and Jana had green.  We also had Katie's green pack since she couldn't stay very late after finishing.  It was such an amazing sight to see the colors fly into the air.  This was the second color throw we saw and I more fully participated in.  I'm right in the midst with all the green on my back.  This was how we fully became covered from head to toe in color.

I could never thank Ben, Jana, and Katie enough for humoring me and joining me today.  I'm always about making great memories for my kids and having fun family experiences but this Color Run was so important to me because it was something I wanted to do just for me.  Now Ben and I have caught the running bug and hope to continue training and be able to run all of the next 5k we do and maybe venture into 10ks and half-marathons.  But no matter what, I can say I finished the 2012 Las Vegas Color Run!