Color Run Munich

We’ve done a bunch of fun things lately as we are starting to say goodbye to Munich. We’ve done a ropes course in the forest, a zip line across Olympic Stadium, sommerrodelbahn in the Alps, and paddle boarding on a lake. And then there was the Color Run, featured here not because it was the best of the bunch but because the pictures were the best. Very colorful and very fun. Billed as the happiest 5k on the planet. We agree!

A bunch of Tori’s friends were doing it, so she was in. Royce, who had a great year running cross country and track, was in. Adam and I decided to go along as well, mostly for safety. We were not needed. Munich is such an easy city to navigate via sbahn and so safe. Most of Tori’s friends came without parents and left without parents. Me, with visions of crowds in Hong Kong, was mostly worried about finding the kids at the end of the race. This proved simple. The race, with thousands of participants, started and ended in the same place. There was a stage with an MC and dancing and numerous beer and brot stands. Collecting tweens and teens, we decided to meet at the ice cream stand and that was that.

Royce ran with a friend from track. They actually ran. They both placed in the top ten and were slightly disappointed that the race was not more competitive. But they threw a little paint at each other just to say they did it.

Adam was supposed to run with me. We worked our way to the start line together, with lots of music and cheers and dancing. Hobbling on a swollen knee and crying, just because crowd events always make me cry, I was not the running partner Adam had in mind. He ran with me for about 5 meters and then was gone, after checking on me a few times. I walked the course, and was possibly the oldest person there.

The event was for teenagers, for sure. Tori was in her element, though a little torn between hanging out with friends and racing. She said she initially raced to a color spot, waited for her friends, and then sprinted to the next color spot. But she gave that up and got covered in paint and talked to her friends the entire way. I think that is the tug of the event itself. Great to get people out and moving but maybe just maybe losing something as the competition fades? Definitely the same with school. How much rigor? How much down time? Same with everything I suppose.Well, we came down firmly in the more fun camp today and have the pictures to prove it.