Before the flavor run I hadn't really been running a lot. I had took about 2 months off from running, with the exception of 2 or 3 long runs I tried to do thrown somewhere in there. I hadn't raced in a while. Shortly before the race I started trying to get back into running. I'd been doing 5k's on the treadmill, with some cross training thrown in. I was a lot slower than usual, and I'd also changed my eating habits for the better.
My aunt mentioned the Flavor Run to me and asked me if I was doing it. I said no. I didn't think I was ready for a race, even though this was a fun, untamed race. Usually I'm all excited about different and fun races. When she mentioned that she wanted to do it I decided to think about it. It's not every day that she says she wants to do a race, and knowing that I had gotten her to do her first 5k, I wanted to do this one with her as well. And who doesn't love having flavored and color powder thrown at you. It would be a good time. We registered for the race a few days before the race.
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| Before - all clean! |
We dressed in white and headed to the Florida State Fairgrounds that hot Saturday morning. It was the first ever Flavor Run, and even though things may have been running a little late it was more organized than some other "fun" races I've been to. We grabbed our shirts and flavor packets and then headed to the start. We were in the second wave, which was starting a little late, so it had gotten pretty hot.
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| Throwing flavor powder at the start |
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| Flavor Wave |
We had flavor packets to play around with so we started throwing them at each other at the start while we waited. Right before our wave started we did a "flavor wave". Everyone did the wave while throwing some of their flavor powder in the air. Then we were off.
We started out with a light jog, taking some walk breaks when needed. This was Doreen's 2nd 5k, and I hadn't done much outdoor running - especially in heat like this. We ran through the orange station. We got covered in orange color and smelled the scent of oranges all around us.
We traveled through all of the colors and scents and were having a blast. We got to the "flavor forrest" which was an area of the 5k course that took us through the grass. It was a bit harder running on the grass, but the shade of the trees was much appreciated. And then there were the "flavor fairies". Runners were dressed up in tutus and wings and sprinkled us with flavor dust as we ran through their areas. Some of them had lots of fun with it, making magical fairy noises, or joking with us as we ran through.
Then we got to an area where we were sprayed with liquid color flavor.
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| Liquid Flavor Spray |
As we neared the end of the 5k course everyone was covered in fun color. We headed to the finish line and ran through one more flavor station. At the end we were greeted with awesome spinning medals and towels to help get us somewhat cleaned off.
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| Spinning medal |
After the race we had to take some pictures. How could we not? We were covered in color and looked like we had tons of fun - which of course we did. There was also a great array of fruits for the runners at the finish that was sponsored by Whole Foods. Unfortunately the lines were a bit long, so we opted to go home, shower the color off of us, and then grab a bite to eat.
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| Me and Doreen after the finish |
I would definitely run the Flavor Run again next year, and I hear they are taking it across Florida so runners in other areas will get a chance to also taste the 5k!
