The Color Run

This past Sunday a bunch of AFSers from all over Spain and I joined over 20,000 people in a Color Run through Barcelona!

For those of you who don't know what a Color Run is, it is a 5 kilometer "race". Every one kilometer or so there are checkpoints of a different color (ex. after one kilometer you reach the orange station). At these stations powdered paint is being thrown by volunteers in every direction. The idea is that by the finish line you are covered head to toe in a rainbow of various colors!

My personal Color Run experience started bright and early at the train station of Barcelona Sants to meet up with all the other participating AFSers. There we changed into our super stylish (least flattering t-shirts I have ever seen) and pinned on our numbers as you do before a 5k. From the train station we walked to La Plaza de España to meet up with all the other THOUSANDS of people also participating in the run.

Plaza de España (stolen from the internet)

So once we made it to the starting line we had to wait a good half hour or so to start the race because they only let about one thousand people leave the starting line at a time so that the color stations didn't get too filled up. While we waited there was a DJ pumping up the jams getting us ready to go. However that was not the only source of entertainment! While waiting we saw quite a few interesting costumes including horse masks, pigtails and LOTS of tutus! Also while waiting we used the time to take a few group photos!

When we were finally able to start we ran... for all of two minutes until we realized we were going up hill. The first station we reached was the orange station. We quickly figured out that if you enter the color stations (they have a blow up ring around the entrance and are fenced in until you reach the exit) and walked along side the barriers you would get far more colorful than if you walked through the center because the people holding the color were right along them. 

Walking through these stops it is a VERY good idea to be wearing glasses of some sort because there is literally powder EVERYWHERE. Honestly if you looked inside my lungs after the whole thing I have no doubt in my mind it would look like a magestic rainbow in there because that stuff was just all over the place! It was so much so that some people wore those doctors masks over their mouths and noses while walking through because it was so bad!

Also at these stations there is obviously powder on the floor as well so if you didn't want to wait for someone to throw the paint directly on you, you could easily pick it up and do it yourself or roll around on the ground like some sort of animal to get covered from head to toe. There was plenty of both!

Moving out of the orange station we ran probably another two minutes, if that! Also while running to this station we past along side runners who had already gone through the next station and by a literal 1 in 20,000 chance I spotted Emma who was also doing the run with her friend and had come completely separate from me!

The next station we reached was the yellow station and these paint throwers were more energetic than the last! We passed through this station a little slower wanting to get as completely covered as we possibly could. Another 1 in 20,000 chance of running into my other host sister Ana who had also come separately from both Emma and I occurred at the yellow station!

They next stop (I am convinced it was not a full 5k because these stations were like five minutes walking distance apart and came way faster than you would expect) was the blue station! Again, these people were crazier than the last! Actually blue may have been the absolute craziest! You could barely see a foot ahead of you because the air was so thick of powder! The powder was super soft by the way, like literal colored powdered sugar! Unfortunately it did NOT taste at all like the stuff and equally as unfortunately it continuously found its way into my mouth.**

Moving right along we came to the green station. While I was walking along in this station one of the paint throwers looked straight at me and said "LOOK LOOK LOOK" and he was pointing at the ground right in front of me. Because I am 1000% gullible (or maybe just 1000% cautious and considerate of what other people have to say) I looked right where he was pointing. He then poured his ENTIRE bottle of green powder like straight into my ear. (It is been two showers later and I STILL have green dust coming out of my ear!)

After the green station was a drink stop where they gave us super good lemonade and then it was a little ways more to the finish line! The AFS group and I decided to sprint the last 50 meters or so and crossed the finish line as a team!

Once you had made it to the finish line there were about  a million things going on at once! You could get your picture taken in a photo booth (which I did I just don't have the pictures yet because they only give two strips to a group of freaking seven people), eat food, and most importantly enter the concert area! 

As you entered the concert area (keep in mind twenty THOUSAND people) you were handed a packet of powdered paint. On the stage on a part of a screen that was shopping random pan shots of the people in the audience (also made it onto that screen which was harder than you might think!) was a countdown. This countdown started over ever twenty minutes and when it reached zero the packets were thrown into the air so it would be a beautiful, powderful, colorful warp! 

Throughout the concert there were more paint packets being thrown into the audience, t-shirts, sunglasses THE WORKS! I am not too sure what time the concert actually ended (there wasn't an actual band, just a DJ and a bunch of prerecorded music) but we stayed until maybe one in the afternoon in which time we somehow, as a group of maybe fifteen or more, worked our way all the way to the very front of the stage where all the action was happening! 

After we made our way to the exit we took a bunch of group photos!

Once outside of the Color Run area it felt a bit strange to see strangers looking all clean and well not covered head to toe in paint! It took all I had not to run on up to someone wearing a clean white shirt and give them a huge ass hug just to see their reaction, but in the end I decided to play nice and let those lucky souls be. However, I guess our group in particular was quiet extraordinary or amusing or something because even though there were about a million other people covered in paint taking pictures only a little ways away, passersby came along and asked us if they could take pictures with the group. So that was pretty cool too I guess! (Unfortunately for me they did not ask for hugs.

After all that commotion we made our way to the train station. There we said our goodbye and parted for our separate ways. Lucky for me I wasn't the only color runner on my train, however that didn't stop anyone from giving me strange looks. I couldn't really blame them either! Once finally in my town I spent the entire fifteen minute walk to our apartment stretching and releasing (does that make sense?) to get the powder to come off leaving behind a rainbow trail in my wake. 

While doing this some guy came running from behind me and happened to be wearing a Color Run t-shirt as well. He kinda just stopped and looked at me for a minute until I gave him a knowing nod and point to our shirts. He then just smiled and kept running. He probably expected to be doing a bit more running during the "race" but let me tell ya the majority of the people there were not all about that and it was so crowded that it actually made it quite difficult for the poor actual runners to pass by. 

After that I finally reached home and took probably THE most colorful shower of my life and without even making a mess of the bathroom, which was a pretty big accomplishment if I do say so myself!

All in all it was a great experience and something that I won't be forgetting anytime soon! I hope you all had equally exciting weekends. I have my last AFS orientation coming up this weekend which I am sure will bring a few more stories to tell! Until then have a nice week! ADIOS!