After several friends went to The Color Run last year, I knew I wanted to keep an eye out for it this year, because it just looked so unique and fun. Unfortunately, the location changed from the close, convenient Piedmont Park of last year to the considerably-less-convenient Atlanta Motor Speedway, in Hampton, GA. But that’s okay. Luckily for me, I have a coworker whose family lives nearby and he graciously offered us a place to crash the night before, to avoid the hour-long drive down (plus traffic) the morning of the event.

All in all, I’d say the experience was fine. Despite being more expensive than the Hot Chocolate Run, the Color Run was noticeably less organized. We waited at the starting line for more than 20 minutes before we were able to run, with no explanation of why (letting people go in groups to avoid the lines to get color that people have complained of in the past, I am assuming).

The run itself seemed shorter than a 5k, and pretty crowded (as you might have guessed, based on those pre-race photos). The track became gravel as it went around a large pond – a pleasant view, but not very pleasant on your feet if you wear minimalist footwear like I do. Fortunately, there was a grassy margin to run in.

Getting color went pretty well. There were four stations: blue, orange, pink and yellow. There weren’t any lines to get colored, but a child did squirt me square in the eye with yellow powder. Luckily those autonomic reflexes kicked in and my eye blinked shut just in time.

I did notice it was difficult to get the color (which is basically food-grade cornstarch) to stick to the shirt, and presumably me, too. So it seemed during the run… While I never wound up looking as vibrant and colorful as the ads I had seen for the event, I was decidedly dirty by the end!

Due to the incredible amount of people, starting late, and spreading out the runners in groups, I missed the big finale where you throw around the color powder packs from the swag bags. This was disappointing, and I was not near the back of the crowd, so I know a lot of other people missed it, too. However, my friends and I had our own mini-finale anyway, throwing our little packets around. We had a good time, got more colorful, and then headed off to a local Waffle House to brunch, color and all.

The Color Run (Atlanta) is a novel run that I would recommend to anyone to try at least once – especially if you have kids – but it is not a run I see myself doing again, unless the price drops and the location is more convenient.

PS: This is happening again at the same place in September – look for it!