The Happiest 5K on Earth…. The Color Run NYC

Today I ran in my third run of the summer, The Color Run.  This one was one of the least challenging runs that I have participated in and compared to last week’s Muck Ruckus run, it was nothing lol.  So I guess I should kind of explain The Color Run.  It is a 5K run (even though it was acceptable to walk) where every kilometer that you pass you get a different colored powder thrown on you.  Everyone had to show up in white shirts so that by the end of the run you would be covered in a rainbow of different colored powder.  The route itself was kind of ehh, we just ran in a loop on cement, but the color made it interesting.

Sleepy Color Runner

So the tough thing about this run was that it started at 8am.  They sent out an e-mail a few days before advising us to go pick up our race packets on Thursday or Friday before the run because there would be a huge rush before the race.  I couldn’t because I had to work so I had to get there super early this morning, around 6.45am!!  eek.  What made it even harder was that Jake had a get together the night before so we were up pretty late.  When my alarm went off at 5.30 I didn’t think I was going to make it but I got up took a long shower, ate some oatmeal (still said “how the heck am I going to do this!), then Jake told me I was crazy and to not doubt myself and on we went….  Yes we, Jake went with me to support me which was awesome.  He could have stayed in bed but he got up and dressed and waited for me at the finish line <3.

When I was on my way there I was wondering what kind of numbers “sold-out” was going to bring.  When I was at the starting line they said that there were 10,000 people!!!  That is just insane.  They actually split us all into 10 different waves!

not that flattering of a shot, but this was me right when I finished.

I feel bad for the guy in front of me.  The blue powder stained me like crazy, my stomach and inside of my arm are still bright blue, after two showers!  I hope he had better luck than me haha.

red dust on my teeth!

my own little packet of color

I was so excited to use my foot pod to track my pace and get my exact time, but then when I got to the starting line the battery was dead! NOOOO, such a bummer.  That will teach me to check the batteries before i go to use it lol.

Me and Jake after.  He still stayed clean of course, but he decided that it looked like so much fun that he wants to do it with me again next year!  And now that it is in writing he really has to hehe.  I am not sure about my exact time but I did run the entire thing, and from what it looked like on my heart rate monitor it was about 36 minutes, maybe a little less.  I didn’t think I would have been able to run the entire thing, and originally I had set the goal to get to at least 3 of the color stations, then walk to the 4th and run the rest.  But then I got to the 3rd station and I was fine, then to the 4th and I was still fine, so I just keep going and finished.  In fact I could have kept going easily.  So now I am kind of bummed and wish it was a little longer so I could have seen how far I could have run hehe.  Originally my max at the gym was running 2.75 miles non stop and today I ran 3.1 miles and could have done more!

If you think this looks like fun there are still some other cities that are hosting them, in fact there is one in NJ on Sept 1st!  I almost wish I could have done that one because the charity they chose for it is the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America!  

After the run, Jake and I headed home ate, I took a shower and then we went back to bed.  I was so exhausted we slept until past 2!  woops.

Would I do it again? absolutely.  But it would have to be for speed, who would have thought that already a 5k is too easy for me but I am not complaining hehe

I lived and laughed through Muck Ruckus 2012

Saturday of course was the 5 mile mud and obstacle race that I entered called Muck Ruckus in West Orange, NJ.  I convinced my sister to run it with me and then with less than a week before the run my cousin Sean decided to run it with us!  Muck Ruckus was a charity for multiple sclerosis which our mom has as well as Sean’s mom so it was definetly a charity that was near to our hearts.  It made me feel good that not only did i raise money, but since I got my sister and Sean involved we raised triple the amount that I would have by myself.

The day started off super early, I had to be at Penn Station and on a train heading to NJ by 8am, and our wave of the run started at 11.30.  Sean and his wife picked me up (she has an awesome blog called Welcome to Deluxville) and then we met my sister Ashley and her family.  Even my mom and dad showed up to watch us!

my dad giving us a pep talk lol

The obstacles started out immediately.  When we got to the first one Ashley, Sean, and I just thought it was a few dirt hills, then we get to the top and to our surprise they were slides into mud!  They wasted no time getting us dirty at all.

one of three

first slide down into the mud

One of the issues with the dirt hills were the rocks.  Sliding down the last one I hit a huge one that hurt so bad which Sean’s wife caught on camera lol

my cousin Sean

Ashley

This obstacle was towards the end of the run, by this time we were probably at around 4 and a half miles and completed i think at least 18 other obstacles!  This one we had to jump off the platform into 6 feet of muddy water, it was a little scary at first so we hesitated, but it was pretty fun after we finally did it.

This was the second cargo net we had to climb, I wish I had a picture of the first one, it was HUGE!

This one was fun, it was a giant swing that you had to stand on and make it swing then you just had to jump off into about 4 feet of water!

the photo that was posted on the website to hype us for the run

Our actual obstacle didn’t have knots on the end!  I was at such a disadvantage because the ropes were so short, so not only did i not get to get a high enough grip but without a knot at the end i just slid right off as did my sister.

show off! lol

And crossing the finish line!  Our official time was 2 hours and 46 seconds.  I finished in 392 place out of 731!!!  Pretty awesome!

Wet and tired, but it was so much fun!  All three of us are going to do it again next year!  I have to give my sister credit for finishing as well as she did.  Not only was she not well trained for something like this, but she also had a baby in January!  And Sean signed up less than a week in advance so he didn’t get to prep much either.

I was so excited that my heart rate monitor was water proof so I could wear it for the run, this way I could track my heart rate, (I’m not going to lie, I kind of ignored it hehe) but most importantly I could see how many calories I burned during it.  I wasn’t expecting it to be over 1000 calories, but that is pretty exciting!

The one bummer was that I broke out in a rash on my hands after the race.  I have a latex allergy and i don’t really know what i touched that was covered in latex, but my hands are still all red and itchy and its Wednesday!!  Next run I am totally going to wear gloves to protect my hands just in case.

After the run my boyfriend Jake had a match in Staten Island.  Since my sister and her family were up from Philadelphia for the run they figured they would go see Jake wrestle.  The one problem was, my sister and I were covered in mud so thanks to my “black card” membership at Planet Fitness we stopped into a gym right around the corner from the venue and showered really quick.  I have to say that alone made my $20 membership worth it for the month haha.

My niece Casey and her dad Andrew modeling a lucha libre mask

Dirtbag Dan, Benjamin Quinn, and my bf Logan Black walking out to their match

And still the No Limits Champion hehe.  If you want to check out a match go to the Warriors of Wrestling site and check out when the next one is.  They are super fun (even though I am a little biased)

Now that I finished up that run, I have the Color Run 5k Sunday August 26th which I am super excited for.  It might not be muddy, but it is still dirty!  If you have never heard of it check it out, it looks awesome!  The two NYC dates sold out in less than 24 hours!!!  And now that I got my sister hooked to the mud runs, she wants to do The Hell Run in October so hopefully we get to do that one as well.

Run Amuck, Muck Ruckus, and fundraising to help cure MS.

So today I checked out the Run Amuck website and noticed that they finally posted pictures from the NY Run.  I had to go through a TON of photos to find us, but after a long search I found a few.  Sad that I couldn’t find any muddy pictures of us, but at least I now have photographic proof that I was in nature, ran through tires and climbed over a cargo net lol.

I had so much fun at this race that I had been searching the web for other mud races that I could do.  I was hoping to be able to do one called the Rebel Run but it was too soon and I just couldn’t take off from work.  Then in my search I found another one called Muck Ruckus.  Muck Ruckus is not a 5K it is actually 5 miles… same idea as Run Amuck with the mud and the obsticals, only this one is even better because it is a fundraiser for MS.  For anyone that doesn’t know me personally, this is something that is close to my heart because my mom was diagnosed with MS when I was a kid.  She is lucky so far and only needs a cane to help her walk occasionally, but also has been taking a medicine that involves getting a shot every other day for pretty much the rest of her life, but it seems to be slowing down the progression of the disease which makes it worth it.

back to the race… I signed up, now I need to raise the money.  Each runner has to raise a minimum of $100 so if any of you would like to help support my efforts you can click on this link and make a pledge.  Not only will you help me have fun and run another crazy race, but more importantly you get to help me help my mom and anyone else that is suffering with MS.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/kristinjacksonhair is the quick link to my personal page which you can share if you know anyone else that would like to donate.

Run Amuck Festival NYC

Yesterday I competed in my first 5K race called Run Amuck.  Its not your normal 5K race, where you just run in a park and call it a day, this 5K had obstacles and mud, so it made it seem a lot more interesting.  You could also register for the race as an individual, couple, or a team of 4 which i thought was pretty cool.  I definetly didn’t want to do it by myself so a few of my friends and I entered as two couples.

To be honest the race was nothing that I expected.  The hills were steeper, there was a lot more rocks and rough terrain than I expected, and to be honest… not that much mud.  I wanted to get dirtier.  But the course was a really pretty run, and was completly shaded which is good for me, I was so nervous I was going to get super sun burnt.

The course

That map was what I was prepared for, it seemed like there were going to be three pools of mud, and really it looked kind of flat, but i guess anything from that view will.  My partner Kirsten and I (we dubbed ourselves team mudget (due to a Kristin-ism when I tried to say midget while my shoes were getting stuck in mud lol) started the race feeling pretty good and thinking it wasn’t going to be too difficult. then we got about a quarter mile in and we reached a super steep rocky hill that we had to basicly climb up, it was pretty crazy and I don’t know how people ran up that thing, we power walked up and ran where we could.  For about the first mile there wasn’t really any obsticals other than some small spots of gummy thick mud, rocks and trees so I had to admit at the time I was a little unimpressed but was still having fun.

Then once we got about 1/3 through the obsticals started and got progressivly harder, at first they were just smaller hurdles to climb over and a little balance beam, or these little infatables to walk through.  Then we got to tires that not only did we have to run through but there were bungy cords streched all over that we had to climb through at the same time.  The hurdles got bigger and bigger and there was a bigger and wobbly balance beam over mud.  Once we got through the second mile, we hit a steep down hill rocky part of the trail, and a cold stream to run in.  Finally we hit a couple rock walls that we had to climb over which i was a little nervous about, I had actually never climbed one before, and really what was scarier (at least to me) was the other side where you only had a few little bars to use to get down.  There were even hurdles with barbed wire wrapped in it that we had to climb under, then we hit the final stretch a double sided cargo net that we had to climb over and a huge pool full of muddy water that we had to crawl on our hands and knees in.

So what was our finishing time?  an hour and 20 minutes.  Not what I had hoped for.  But we still finished it within the alotted time, and before a bunch of other people lol.  So that was all I was asking for.  But next year Team Mudget is totally going to do better!

the Mudgets all clean before the race.

Right when we finished soaked and dirty

Kirsten!

my dirty bib

Dirty Mudgets

bye bye Mizunos

Melissa and Kristen at the final stretch!

Kristen and Melissa just after finishing

It ended up being a super fun day, I was tired, but didn’t over extend myself on it, and I lived to talk about it so I guess it was successful.  Now I can’t wait till next year’s race!