Latest reviews by Dawana H

(2015)
"First Time Gasparilla Runner"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

The race takes place down Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa, which makes for an extremely scenic route! It starts at 9 am, which, depending on the weather makes for a very HOT Florida morning. So, I was definitely warm during the run. They had plenty of hydration stations throughout the route and they even had a water sprinkler at one part during the run- so that was a nice way to cool off. There was music strategically placed throughout the route, a pirate mime and great fans with signs.

I do wish that you didn't have to go to a tent to get post-race goodies. I think they could have very well set that up in the holding area after the race was done- at the same spot that they gave out water and gatorade there could've been bananas, etc. The line to get to the tent was so long that I just skipped it. After running 5 miles in the heat, I didn't feel like standing on line for 30-40 minutes for a free beer- it just wasn't worth it to me.

Parking in downtown Tampa is a nightmare, especially on race day. Traffic is everywhere, the Tampa PD are high angst so they're shouting at people and herding you like cattle. Getting to the expo just to get my bib was a nightmare as well. I registered in store so to have to go to the expo hall and pay parking just to get my bib was ridiculous to me.

Great race, great scenery, amazing medals- hated the hassle of getting my bib in Tampa traffic and hated the line for the post-race beer, goodies, etc.

I'd definitely do it again, though, because the pros outweighed the cons.

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(2015)
"The Happiest 5K"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

My girlfriends came to visit for girl's weekend, so I thought The Color Run would be a fun activity for us to do together. We'd walk, we'd talk, and it would be great.

Packet pickup was a breeze. They only offered it in one location prior to race day and I was very concerned that it would be so crowded that we would be waiting in line forever to get our things. I was wrong. The team over at The Color Run have this down to a science. If you had your mobile device with the QR code from your registration email, they scanned it and gave you your bib. If not, they were able to search by last name. There were 3 or 4 lines going for people to grab their bib and from there you moved to the tent to pick up your gear.

This year, gear included a t-shirt, headband, Color Run tattoos and a few goodies in your bag. The t-shirt was so cute. Mine is currently in the washing machine as I try to see if I can get that magenta out of it. **Fingers Crossed**

Parking was not my favorite part of the day. Whenever there are races in Coachman Park in Clearwater, parking is always hard to find. Yes, there are public parking lots, but I always find myself circling a bit to find a good place to park. I guess if I would have studied the parking map more in depth, or brought it with me, I wouldn't have been circling- but that would've been too easy.

Potties were plentiful and available for all to use before the race. Fully stocked with TP and hand sanitizer.

At the start line, the music was bumping and the bubbles were flowing (from a bubble machine). The DJ was throwing some goodies out into the crowd, probably to distract us from the fact that we were waiting a while to get going. I couldn't figure out why we were waiting, but I think it's because they were letting people out in waves, which is fine.

The course was a little... interesting. There are so many different routes that races can take from Coachman Park in Clearwater. I've seen races go over the bridge, but The Color Run went through more residential neighborhoods, which I thought was weird.One of the color stations played music, but I don't remember any of the other stations playing music. I wondered if there were city ordinances race directors had to follow regarding noise. The route wasn't very scenic, though the weather was beautiful, there wasn't anything to really look at.

I forgot to turn on my GPS app before we started walking, so I created my own map of the walk using the map on The Color Run's website. If the calculations are correct, we actually walked 3.65 miles, which is (obviously) a bit more than a 5K. That's fine with me, but I'm not sure how many people appreciate more miles than they signed up for.

The color zones. Yeah, I wasn't ready for those. I thought they'd throw color, it'd be all good. Nah. There is powder in the air and dust in your throat and up your nose like whoa! I brought a bandana to cover my face and my daughter's face, but that didn't necessarily seem like enough to stop all of the powder dust that I swallowed. I'm glad that we had sunglasses on because if we didn't all of the dust on my glasses would have been in my eyes- I'm sure of it. The glitter zone? Yeah. My friends and I were still shining the next day. BUT, this is what we signed up for and it was all in good fun. We made sure to move to different sides as we approached other color zones so that the color on our shirts were even. (People stand to either your left or your right to throw the color on you and you may find yourself with more color on one side depending on how you walk through the color zones.)

I did make sure to wear a hat on my head because I wasn't sure about getting all of that color in my locs. I put my daughter's hair up into a bun and put a bandana on her hair. I highly recommend this if you don't want to spend an extended period of time cleaning corn powder out of your hair. The powder will get under your clothes. I was wearing a tank top underneath my color run shirt and every single article of clothing down to my underwear was colored that day. I wish I had brought a change of clothes to get into my car with after, but that would've required pre-planning. I did a great shakeout, though, at the car and got most of the powder off of my clothes. I also had something to sit on so that my carseat didn't get colored on the way home.

The moral of the color story? Be prepared. Decided how much color you want on your hair, face and body and plan accordingly for that when you get dressed. Bring a change of clothes or at least a towel to sit on in the car if you don't want colored seats.

There were two water stations along the course. Volunteers served us water in these fancy pants Color Run cups and one of the stations had water and peach sweet tea. That was definitely unexpected (and not necessarily tasty as one would expect), but it was cool.

The medal was okay. It is my understanding that they don't usually give medals, so for a first year medal that they needed to use at all of their events this year, it was good. I heard comments that the medal should have at least had the name of the city on it. Meh. Whatevs. At least we got one, right?

At the finish line runners were given bottled water and Kind bars. There was a huge dance party going on after the race with powder being thrown everywhere (each runner received two powder packets at the finish line along with their bling). We opted out of the powder-throwing party because by then the kids were done and ready to roll. We headed right over to the #ShoutItOut station to have people with leaf blowers help us get rid of some of the loose powder on our clothes.

All in all, we had a great time. I think if I do this again I'd love to see it run on a more scenic course, just because Clearwater is so beautiful and there's really no reason to run through neighborhoods. I highly recommend signing up for the race before prices go up. Pre-sale prices were pretty good this year and if you sign up with a team (4+ people), the price is less than signing up on your own. If you wait, you'll end up paying $49.50 at the last minute.

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