world of color

so i'd registered for the color me rad 5K out at the fontana speedway weeks ago, thinking it sounded like lots of fun.  from the looks of it, it was just a fun run/walk-type thing, with no timing chips involved.  and with the avon walk coming up this weekend (!!), i thought it might make for a nice training walk with the teen.  for me, if there's no clock to record my pace, it's not worth going balls-out,  especially since it was super duper hot.

since the hub was scheduled to be in the area the day before, he volunteered to save me a trip and head over to pick up our bibs and tees.  and we were pleasantly surprised to peer into the bags he brought home and find some extra goodies that he snapped up for us - fun knee-high socks and extra "color bombs" to toss at each other during the 5K.

the teen was none too pleased with me when i woke her up super early on a saturday morning.  with the first wave of runners scheduled to start at 8am, i wanted to get there with plenty of time to find parking and whatnot, so we were out the door at 6:45.

it wasn't too hard to figure out where we were supposed to go.

after finding a parking spot and pulling on the tutus i'd made, we decided to make good use of those "rad" temporary tattoos from our goody bags.

there was quite the impressive turnout of folks clad in white for this thing.

we stopped at the photo booth for a "before" shot.

and then had a nice lady take one with my phone outside.

despite the giant crowds, a friend from high school managed to find me to say hello.

being a huge "bachelor/ette" fan, i was bummed not to be closer to the stage when arie luyendyk jr. made an appearance.  i thought he was super cute, and that bachelorette emily was crazy not to pick him over that jef-with-one-f she ended up with (and apparently has already cheated on).

just past the start line, the route took us right to the infield area.  with a big race coming up, there were lots of folks camped out and partying like it was 1999 up in there.

we came upon the first colorbomb station pretty quickly - blue.

not long after that one, green.  at this one, it wasn't just colored cornstarch - these volunteers were armed with sprayers that splashed bright blotches of green on us from head to toe.

next up:  purple.

there was a water station set up about halfway through.  i don't typically wear my hydration belt for a 5K, but it was like the surface of the sun out there, so we joined the line for a cup.

too bad for us, though, because they ran out of freaking water before we got up there.  boo.  but i still look happy here, if not pretty stinking ridiculous.  par for the course, yes?

the final colorbombing was yellow.  these volunteers were having way too much fun with those sprayers.

mostly walking a 5K made it seem like it took forever, so i was really happy to finally see the finish line looming in the distance.  as we trudged along, sweating our asses off and creating bizarrely tinted rivers running down our backs, we totally side-eyed these chicks.  those things on their feet looked massively uncomfortable as they broke into a sprint and bounced on ahead of us.  craziness.

they saved the best color for last.

this crazy fool was straight up doing the freaking worm on the ground, trying to soak up as much color as possible.

and next to the final colorbombing area, firefighters perched atop their trucks happily picked up hoses and doused everyone with cool water.

here's our after shots, one pro and the other via the trusty iPhone.

this one would've been a great shot if not for the dude's finger in the way.  oops.  sorry, m'dear.

back at the car, we inspected the damage before toweling off as best as we could.  the tutus looked kinda cool.

my shoes escaped any serious damage.

but my nails.  ew.  good thing i was three weeks into my gel manicure and needed to go back in for a new one anyway.  they looked like a starbucks cup.

...which, of course, was a mandatory stop before heading home.

having seen lots of kids walking with their folks and riding in strollers, we decided that the bean gets to come with us next time.  she'd get a kick out of the colorbombing, and even better?  she'd get to go for free.

and we all know how much i love me some freebies.