Commentary by Lyndsey Herman, Campus Carrier Staff Reporter
At long last, I finally got to participate in Color Me Berry (aka a color run) on campus Saturday morning.
I had wanted to run this race for over a year and could barely contain my excitement when I saw the advertisements that Berry was hosting this 5K. Not to mention, the senior class sponsored it. That was pretty exciting.
My friend, senior Samantha Spennato, and I decided we would run it together. I use the term “run” loosely. Apparently, even people who do not normally run show up for the “happiest 5K on earth,” and there is a nice mix of walking and running. So there was not much of a race aspect. It was more about the fun of getting covered in paint and enjoying the gorgeous morning.
Sami and I arrived at registration in the Morgan/Deerfield courtyard, signed in, got our bags and changed into our shirts. I was pretty excited to find the pack of paint in the bag. Sami explained to me that they would be for after the race.
We joined the mass of around 150 runners at the starting line headed toward the cottages, where senior Marley Simonis explained the route of the race and then started us off. At the front of the pack were the runners, in the middle were those of us who were jogging and in the rear were those walking; but all of us were ready for the first paint station.
At each kilometer mark, there was a different paint station of a certain color. The paint is a cornstarch powder mix, and therefore is safe when it gets into one’s eyes or mouth.
First up was yellow. This was not terribly exciting, since everything was pretty yellow from the pollen already. We continued onto Viking Trail where we found the pink station. I have to admit, this is the first 5K I have ever participated in where I stopped to take pictures mid race. After each station, nearly everyone we saw stopped to take photos with their friends.
Shortly after pink was the “brown” section. In other words, we had to run through the mud to the rest of the trail. That was part of the race I had not anticipated, but we were rewarded with the teal station. Teal is my favorite, which I told junior Alice Boyd who was one of the “painters” as Sami and I approached. Alice was very generous, and I ran away completely covered in teal paint. The next station was green, and then red as we reached the end of the trail back at Morgan.
The run had been extremely fun, but the after party was the part that everyone was excited about. We all had our packs of paint from our welcome bags and on a countdown, we all released our paint into the air. It was a massive rainbow cloud of paint. Everyone was dancing and laughing and playing.
Everyone was covered, head to toe, in a multitude of colors. It was a beautiful sight. Paint was being slung, pictures were being taken and everyone was having a blast.
It was a healthy experience for the mind, body and spirit. I truly hope that Color Me Berry becomes a Berry tradition.