The Color Run v. Run or Dye

Hello Everyone!

It's time for another cross-over post from my craft blog, The Dabbling Crafter.

This last weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. It was a great weekend. I saw a concert, went to a couple of events with my class and did another color run!

It was by chance that I ended up doing two color runs within 2 weeks of each other. I had already signed up for one, and my friends all started signing up for the second one...so I have two to compare now. 

The two events were for pretty different size. The Color Run was in Des Moines, Iowa. It had around 30,000 participants and went around downtown. Run or Dye was in Rapid City, South Dakota. It definitely didn't have nearly that much...maybe 5,000 or so? It might be less. That's the number the Rapid City Journal is reporting.

If you'd like my tips about running a Color Run and keeping the color, see my other post here.

Packet Pick-Up

Winner: The Color Run

The Color Run had two different packet pick up times where the Run or Dye had only one. You'd think that since The Color Run had a million times more participants (okay...so like 5 times more) the pick up would have taken less time. Nope. It took longer to get checked in to the Run or Dye. Not only that, but the location was out of the way, where The Color Run was in the main part of town. I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't have the packet pick up at a sports store like The Color Run did.

The Route

Winner: The Color Run

I understand that The Color Run was in a metro area compared to the location I ran the Run or Dye at, but the Run or Dye run was terribly planned. First off, they didn't leave the fairgrounds they started on. That meant that you ran on grass, asphalt, a trail with potholes the size of a small child, and the best part...in circles inside a building. It was crazy. Plus, I had my Nike+ on for both races. The Color Run was right on. Run or Dye was only 2.6 miles! I imagine people thought they got killer times when they cut a half mile off the race!

Color

Winner: Run or Dye

The Color Run had Blue, Yellow, Orange and Pink. They also had purple and green available in packets. They had a mist water thing too so you would pick up more color. It was a good idea, but the color didn't seem that bright or saturated. Run or Dye had Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink. Purple was also available in packets. You got a bit more color in your packet and it seemed much brighter. 

Atmosphere

Winner: The Color Run

The Color Run had a main stage that was pumping out dance music and doing Zumba before the race. Then when you got to the chute, the DJ was pumping music, throwing out free stuff and generally rocking. Not to mention the packet pick up was also a dance party in its own right. They also had a bad arse store to get all sorts of different stuff. (Run or Dye didn't have as much of a selection). Run or Dye didn't have a main stage playing music before the event and the music they did play in the chute was terrible. I mean...come on! Play music to pump me up...not slow songs! The stage they did have after the race was the same problem. Not to mention I swear I heard the "DJ" yelling at people every five seconds ("I told you not to use your packet yet" "You need to pay attention to what's going on up here"). Not the go lucky attitude of The Color Run. Plus The Color Run had more signage that was fun, more people moving around, a unicorn and a conga line!

So, I had tons of fun at each race, but I'll definitely hit up The Color Run again and pass on Run or Dye. I did hear that "Color Me Rad" is a fun race and they use liquid color as well. 

Our "Before" Picture...we may have gotten some paint before the race started.

Our "After" picture

Our friend got crazy insane color!

 

Check-In Time!

Hola!

I haven’t written in a while. Things have been crazy at home and at work, but I have LOTS to share!

First, my weigh-in:

Weight: 247.4 (Old: 248.0. I was down to 237 for my Diet Bet..but that was without breakfast or liquids 12 hours before.)

Hips: 55.5 (55)

Waist: 38 (39.5)

Thigh: 13.5 

Arms: 27.5

I decided to add my arms and thigh measurements in and remove my bust. I couldn’t care if I lost at the bust. I happen to like it where it is. 

I had lost quite a bit for the Diet Bet but I have been a bad bad girl since then. I have been eating out for lunch and dinner and haven’t been running. Of course I also wasn’t blogging because then I would have to own up to the fact I was being bad. Now I’m back on track. Last Friday I ran my 4^th 5K! It was a glow run put on by a small town here in Iowa. I hadn’t planned on it, but a few days before it my aunt asked me if I wanted to do it, so I thought why not?

It was pretty clear by my time that I hadn’t been running (during a race I'm usually at around 16.30/17.00 per mile, but this time it was 18.00...it's slow I know but I have super short legs and I'm fat). I didn’t walk though, so I still call it a success. I also spent the entire next day at an amusement park, and I didn’t feel too sore afterwards. 

That’s also a victory!

Ready to Run!

This coming Saturday I’m doing the “official” Glow Run 5K in South Dakota. I am running today at lunch and Wednesday to make sure I’m ready to go. I do prefer the larger 5K’s because 1) I usually push myself harder since I have runners next to me, and 2) If I’m slow, no one notices.

I have decided that I too often reward myself with food. I’ll think, you did well at work, you should get a snickers. Or, you didn’t fall asleep watching tv, you should get some ice cream. (Yes…not sleeping during family time is often a victory for me).

Now I’m going to focus on different more productive rewards. I got some new running shorts on Friday. Mostly because I have no idea where my other pair went and I was on my way to a race. I really appreciate that Scheel’s carries the Nike Extended Sizes. It’s hard to find a store that has them, and you just have no idea of the sizing unless you’re there to try them on. They had some DryFit long sleeve shirts I really liked, but I couldn’t justify the cost especially when it’s still 90 degrees outside. I’ll have to use that as my next reward. I also like their zip down jackets.

Happy Monday and good luck this week on all your goals!

The Color Run

Hello!

I'm going to re-post my post I did recently on The Color Run. It was my first color fun run. I learned a ton. I'll be posting in a few days about another fun run I did this last weekend and compare the two. Visit my craft blog for more information and projects. :)

Hello There! 

I joined thousands of fellow Iowans yesterday to run "The Color Run" in downtown Des Moines. I did the Couch to 5K program earlier this year, and this was my second 5K. I couldn't find a number for attendance this year (2013) but last year (2012) it was around 30,000 thousand people, and I don't think it got any less popular!

I do have some hints based off my experience, but let's first talk about the important thing, how do you keep the color on your shirt??

The various websites for The Color Run (and other copycat races) say you should soak your shirt in vinger, iron it (to set the color) and then.....????. Most websites get pretty vague at this point. I read some other blogs, and no one seemed to have an exact example of a way to preserve color. I am lucky because I'm running another color race in two weeks (Run or Dye in Rapid City, SD). I hadn't planned on doing two but my high school friends were going to do it the weekend of our reunion, so I joined in. I will probably walk that one just to enjoy the company of people I don't get to see often. Anyways, now I two opportunities to get this color keeping thing right.

This was me "before" the race:

This was me "after" the race (before the color cloud):

 

This was after the color cloud:

 

As you can see, you get more color in the color cloud.

 

So, when I got home, I sprayed the shirt with vinegar. I didn't soak it. I thought if I sprayed it on, it wouldn't smear. It was just as saturated as it would be if you soaked it, but I think laying it flat kept the colors from running together into a ugly brown.

 

Then I went to work ironing it. Beware. It stinks to high heaven. I opened two windows and worked quickly.

(Side note, you can kinda see that I modified the shirt sleeves to be a girl fit. See my hints below)

So, I decided that I wanted to ensure that my shirt had color. I had some spray fabric paint. I decided to do a couple of drops/sprays on the shirt to make sure I had some color.

So now I've done the two steps The Color Run suggests. I have no idea where to go with it now. Line dry? Wash? Dryer. I decided that since the iron "set the color" I would put it in the dryer. I put it in the dryer with a old towel with the theory that it would absorb excess color (not sure if that worked, but I haven't seen any color in my dryer.).

Color is still good. I decided now it was a good time to wash it. I did a very very small amount of detergent and washed on cold. 

Uh Oh. Most of my color was gone. ARGH. 

Thankfully I added some color so it's not completely white. Some of the blue stayed and a spot of orange and yellow.

So I'll try something different in my next race (maybe doing the 'soaking' that is suggested rather than spraying)

Observations and Hints for The Color Run.

1) I was told that there would be so many people that I wouldn't be able to run the entire thing. I would be stuck behind people walking or running slower than me (although I'm pretty sure that's not possible). I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the majority of people walk it (at least in my wave they did). If you stay to the outside, you generally don't have to stop at all for walkers. Plus, you want to be on the outside to get some color! I walked through the color zones because what's the point of the race if you don't get some color! Plus you want to make sure 

2) How do you get the most color? That probably is the most popular question. I did some research prior to the race. First, you will see some water being sprayed down from the arch when you first walk through the arch. Don't hustle through it. The water doushing helps the color stick to you. Move slowly through the color zones on the edges. If you can, you may think about alternating what side you are on. Don't forget to turn your back to the color sprayers every once in a while. Some people did "color angels" right after the color zone. If you don't mind laying in the street, you can get some extra color that way. And the most important part of all....go to the color cloud after the race!!!! Not only is it really fun and cool to experience, you'll be covered in color!

3) It might be worth it to have a bandana or mask to cover your face. I don't usually have problems with smells or textures. However, it was pretty intense...especially during the color cloud. I can see why people do it.

4) Bring a change of clothes, a garbage bag and something to cover the car seats. I didn't because I have leather seats...I thought it would clean easy. It did come off, but I had to use a ton of wipes to get it clean. It would have been so much easier if I would have just covered the seats in the first place!

5) You will have to wait if you aren't waiting in line early. So this is what you can choose between. Either you join in the pre-party (there was some 'warm-up' Zumba at ours) and have fun that way. Or you can stand in line so you're one of the first waves. I had a ton of fun at the warm-up Zumba. So we weren't in line early and ended up waiting an hour for our wave to start. That kinda sucked. But, I think if i had the choice to do it again, I would still do the warm-up. It was fun to spend that time dancing. 

6) We got to the race about an hour early. We got a close parking spot, and we easily got out of town too. It was nice change from most large events!

7) We did the 9 am start time instead of the 1 pm. It was crowded, but by the time we finished at noon, it was already getting warm. We were super lucky because it was a cool day to start out with!

8) You know all those cool Color Run pictures? If you do a little research, you would realize that purple is the magic color. Unfortunately, it's not a color zone. So if you can trade someone for that color (it does appear in some people's race packets), you might want to use it on yourself (and friends). Someone pointed out on the blog that orange doesn't tend to mix well with other colors (it tends to create brown). So you might want to avoid orange (or just get a little dusting). Blue and Green seem to have the most saying power. Green is also not available as a color zone.

9) The Color Run is fun with friends! Who else is going to take a picture of you feeling up the unicorn? Not that anyone did that...

10) If your friends don't bring their phones (and if you do, you will probably want to use a sleeve or a plastic sandwich bag), you will want to plan a place to meet up. Not only is there a ton of people, but at the end of the race everyone looks the same.

11) It's totally family friendly. I saw tons and tons of families doing the race. Two great ideas if you have kiddos that are too little be colored. 1) Use one of those convertible bike trailer/strollers. They have a plastic cover that can fold down, and 2) If you cover the stroller, use a white muslin blanket soaking in water. It will keep the dye from getting in the stroller, and it will great a cool dyed blanket! (alas, it might not stay that way).

12. The shirt is a unisex shirt, so it's not a woman's cut. I used this tutorial and made my sleeves a girl fit. The material of the shirt is pretty soft, so it didn't sew well. I ended up having to use a bit of tissue paper to sew through the shirt without skipping stitches. 

That's all I can think of right now, but I'll post other things if I remember them! :) Hopefully there will be some cool pictures from the event I can share with you once they upload the official pictures.

 

Pre-5k and Post-5k Pictures

Hello!

I haven't lost weight on the scale, but I feel more confident and I think I am seeing results of my exercise.

Since I decided to buy that blue dress, I decided I better make an effort to tone things up. I am lifting weights a few times a week on top of my running. I am also going to watch what I eat. I have a reunion at the end of the month, and I want to look good in the dress!

I also decided to join ItSuxToBeFat's DietBet. I have to lose 4% of my weight by the end of the month. (for those that are counting, I believe that is 9.9 pounds). The pot is already up to 1,125!

So here was the "before"

These are my afters: my weigh-in picture for diet bet, two dresses I tried on (the blue dress I bought). I did have some Spanks on...those things are like a new form of torture but I sure like how they look under things!

First 5K Done!

I am so excited to share that I finished my first 5K this past weekend! I was pretty nervous leading up to the race. I don't really get nervous usually. I was afraid that I had a bunch of people coming to watch me and I would fail miserbly.

But, I didn't! I actually did better that I have during the past 10 weeks of training. My miles were about 3 minutes shorter than they were last week when I did my 5k practice. I was really proud of my effort!

However, I did take a little break. About a half mile in, I had to use the restroom. By 1.5 miles, I was practically dying. I had to take a mini detour to a McDonalds to use the restroom. My husband joked that I was the first person ever to visit a McDonalds during a 5k race.

I can't wait to do my next race. It was quite the rush to slap my fellow co-worker's hands as I crossed the finish line!

Exercise Clothes: Plus Size Finds

Hello Fellow Bloggers!

It was a long wet weekend here in the midwest. We didn't get to do a whole lot outside on our Memorial Day weekend. My in-laws were visiting Saturday and Sunday. Yesterday my hubby and I (and kiddos) did a little shopping. I bought two new pieces of workout clothing. I know my husband is on the exercise bandwagon when he doesn't even bat an eye at me spending $80 bucks on shorts and a tank top.

I have done lots of googling lately on where to buy plus size workout gear. I do find it ironic that I finally get my butt into gear and I can't find anything to cover said butt.

A few weeks ago I went into Kohls and found some running legging capris that fit. They were XL and from FILA. (I got this pair and this pair...the first is a bit more comfy and compressing) They are quite comfortable to run in, although I've quite the time trying to get over the fact I'm wearing spandex in public with such a huge rear end. I have been wearing longer shirts, but I still have to remind myself over and over again that it doesn't matter what I look like because I'm getting out and moving and the haters gonna hate! I see that FILA does over extended sizes online, although I found their XL very stretchy.

I did want to find a nice tank top and shorts to wear. When I think running shorts, I think way...way...too shorts. I don't know why spandex butt is okay but short shorts butt is not. But that's how I think. I went into a large sports store and looked around. There was so much cute stuff but I knew none of it would fit me. I finally broke down and asked an employee if they carried any of the Nike extended sizes. I don't know why it took me so long to ask. I guess I felt I would get judged if I dare ask where the plus size exercise gear...like it was a oxymoron or something. She was very kind and continued to follow up with me once I tried everything on. I found two pairs that fit me  (This pair and this pair) and a tank that fit me too (Kinda like this one). I decided that I would stick with the longer grey pair for now (the first link). I could have gone a size down in my shorts but I decided I'd rather them be a bit baggy in case I decided to wear my leggings underneath. I was running late today so I knew I would have to skip my run and lunch, but I'm super excited to get out a run with them! Yay Nike for making extended sizes!!!

My running is going so well! Well, make no doubt about it, I'm slow. In fact some 80 year old man sped walked past me last week. I almost stopped to take a picture it was so ridiculous. Last Wednesday the weather was BEAUTIFUL. It was overcast and cool, and I felt like I could run forever! I ended up running 2.70 miles without stopping! Whoop whoop! C25K has been so awesome for me. I highly recommend the program! I think I might make my 5k without walking! I took some pictures after my run of the beautiful lake I'm fortunate enough to run around three times a week.

Wednesday's Run. Overcast and so wonderful to run in!

Friday's Run. Much sunnier and warmer, but still nice.

It's not a remote area...its right off downtown. However, last Wednesday a deer ran next to me! I think he was quite lost. It was a crazy sight to see.

Keep on everyone!!! :)

What Do You Wear?!?

Hello!

So after a week of the blah's, I am doing better. I had a craft show (I repurpose furniture...if you're so inclined, you can check out my craft blog here). So the past week was spent being super super busy painting and sanding. I ended up missing two runs (boo!) but I don't feel that bad because I was doing so much moving around at home, plus it snowed in May. Yes. SNOW. I actually had to work from home one day because of all the snow!

So, I did my first CT5K run without stopping. I actually think it was a little easier to just keep going rather than doing intervals. I don't know why, (maybe it was the awesome weather), but I felt I didn't check the clock and enjoyed my run today. I know, did I actually just use the words enjoy and run in the same sentence?!?!?!

I was thinking last night that since I'm 6 weeks into running and doing fairly good about it, I probably am at the point I need to invest in some gear. I have some new shoes I got in my last trimeaster of my pregnancy and so far they rock (New Balances...I had Nikes previously and they sucked for me). I also invested in an armband for my new iPhone. By the way, I'm pretty much in love with the Nike+ app. If anyone else uses it, we should be friends so I have some modivation to get out and run!!!

Plus size work out clothes are hard to come by! You'd think that since I need to do more working out than my skinny counterparts, I would be able to find some. I don't want short shorts. Believe me. No one needs to see the jiggle of my thighs. But I know it's going to be fairly warm this summer, so I need something other than pants. I was thinking some compression capris with running shorts. The best place I found so far was Old Navy.

So, blog land, where do you find work out clothes? Any hints to keep the chub from rubbing the other chub?

C25K Update

I have been working very very hard on my Couch to 5K program. The weather has been pretty blah lately, so I have had a couple of work-outs on the treadmill. Gross. I never thought I would say this, but they aren't challenging enough. I go much faster and I push myself, but I just don't feel quite as spent as I do when I run outside. I hope the rain decides to go away so I can get back outside.

I am officially registered for two 5K's this summer! The first one is at our local zoo. It's the race I'm running with the group of girls I have been running with at work. I am very very excited! There's a kid's dash that day for little kids and I signed my daughter up for that one. I think she'll have a blast!

The second one is one I'm SO excited for! It's the Color Run. I am excited to do a "fun" race with my friends.

I'm thinking of doing a third one in August. It's a glow run back in South Dakota (my home state) and one of my girlfriends might run it with me.


Have you signed up for any races yet?

The jiggle in my step is revolting!

Today was day two of C25K. Whew. I woke up yesterday a bit sore, but manageable. Today I woke up a little more sore. After today’s run, I’m feeling hella sore, but I made it! That’s what really matters. I just keep telling myself that I just am one day closer to the day I won’t feel sore.

I have discovered two things while running with our work running group, 1) I’m short and 2) I’m slow. I can’t manage to keep up during the walking periods let alone the running period. I’m a bit surprised I haven’t gotten bruises up and down me from all my different bits slamming against each other. Is it possible that is adding to my soreness? My extra baggage is resisting my weight loss journey by physically assaulting me every time I jiggle. 

During my run today, I witnessed a miracle. Yes, a miracle actually occurred on my run today. How many people get to witness one in front of their eyes? This miracle is that a hill magically appeared while I was running. The hill was not there yesterday. However, today when I hit that hill (during my running period nonetheless) I felt like someone had lit my legs on fire! My poor abusive bum was also feeling the wrath of the new magical hill. Argh. Note to self, try to avoid hill during running period on Friday.

I have new goals this week as well. Giving up sweets last week wasn’t stellar…but I did say no a couple of times, so that’s a move in the right direction. I’m going to continue last week’s goal of sweet moderation and portion control. Although, I find the later more difficult after running and breastfeeding. My body is like EAT AN ENTIRE PIZZA NOW!!!! Don’t worry. I’m not starving myself or anything. I just attempt to curb it with some protein. Although, I really just want to carb load. Probably not a good idea to eat 3.5 pounds of pasta prior to running. It was just add more stuff to jiggle around in my body.

New goal this week is more of a healthy lifestyle choice. I’m going to floss. I know. Crazy me! How will I ever do it!?!? 

Okay. I’ll admit that when the dental hygienist asks me how often I floss, I *may* say I do it regularly. Then she calls my bluff and I leave the office with monster inflamed gums. (Oh, did I say regular? I mean I did my annual flossing about 5 minutes before I walked in the door.)

So goal summary. Stop stuffing my face with sugar. Stop eating enough food to feed a family of three. Start flossing so I don’t have to tell white lies to my dentist. Check!

First Day of CT5K!

Hello!

I'm just about to head to the locker room to get dressed for our first work-out. I'm really excited. A bit nervous I'll fail, but mostly excited to make a change.

I also found out that The Color Run will be in our town this summer! Totally pumped. I think I'm going to sign up this week. I always wanted to do it, and for some reason I thought we weren't a host city this year. Its going to be my 2nd 5k if things go well with CT5K. I can't wait!

I hope the video below works, otherwise check out The Color Run's website!

Wellness Big Dream Event

I'm extremely lucky to work for a company that cares so much for the health of its employees. We have a gym on site (and it's fully stocked...not just one machine and a few free weights.) We have a locker room. There are on-site exercise classes and an on-site coordinator of everything. I have absolutely no excuse not to exercise except my laziness!

Recently they had a event called the "Wellness BIG Dream Event" where you would go into a conference room, fill out a sheet with your Wellness Dream and put it on the board (it was anonymous). You could look at other people's dreams and leave encouraging comments or advice. After the event, the fitness coordinator sent everyone their sheets back.

I had the dream of losing 40 pounds (which would be my weight when I got married...and its my 5 year anniversary this year). In all actuality, I'd like to be the weight I was in college, but hey, small steps! I also want to keep up with this blog and connect with other people. I have already "met" fellow bloggers that are in the exact situation (in fact, so many are just like my situation it's a bit eery).

Here is the sheet I did and the responses I got (click to enlarge). What a great program!

The "Spouse Temptation"

My goal this week was to avoid sweets. I actually was doing pretty good yesterday. I didn't get a candy bar at the gas station (I got some nuts instead). I got my daughter a treat without getting one for myself and even resisted finishing it when she decided she didn't like it anymore. Then, after dinner my husband declared "I'm going to get ice cream, you want anything?"

Well. Geez. How can you say no to that? Someone is offering to hand deliver ice cream to your hand. I can quite literally sit on my butt without exerting a single muscle and get ice cream.

I thought about my promise on this blog and my goal and some how managed to reply, "I'm trying to give up sweets, so I think I'll pass." Yeah. Mental high five!

My husband responded, "Oh come on. You can start tomorrow. We'll start together. What do you want?"

That was the point my already shaky resolve crumbled. I got ice cream and felt quite guilty eating it. Okay. I felt a little bit guilty. Mostly I was thinking "Mmmm this is good ice cream."

The "spouse temptation" is part of the reason I'm where I am. We took our bad habits and shared them with each other. I like to eat out and have carbs. He likes sweets. Now we eat out eating carbs and sweets. It's a recipe for disaster.

Early in our marriage we didn't share the same physical activities we did individually. I ran, but he never joined me and eventually I gave up running to spend time with him. He would play sports with friends, but soon he spent those weekends with me. We did play raquetball as a couple for a while, but that fell away as well.

Now we have both realized that we need a change, but that means we have to change what we do as a couple. Instead of movie night, we need to go on a family walk. Instead of coloring with our daughter, we play tag or hide-in-seek. Okay. There is still a very healthy amount of coloring going on for those of you that are concerned about her artistic talents.

It's been difficult to change what we do as couple because we have always done this. We adapted our hobbies to include each other, but we didn't bring the healthy active hobbies with us. I suppose it was way more fun to watch movies with a new love interest than go for a jog with each other. But that's been years and years ago, so it's time for a change. And who doesn't like new ideas for dates? Weight room anybody?