Colour me Rad

I was laughing too hard to stand up straight.

Ever since I first heard about colour runs a couple of years ago, I have wanted to do one.  I have seen pictures of people covered from head to toe in colourful powders and dyes with bright smiling faces and I thought to myself, I want to do that. It looks chaotic, it is most definitely messy, and I wanted to be a part of it.  I was able to cross this off my bucket list yesterday after participating in Toronto's "Color Me Rad" event.

I love being active and being outside.  From my courses in psychology, I know that nature has been found to positively affect a person's mood and this is especially true for me.  Just from being outside for a brief moment brings me such peace.  It's literally a breath of fresh air that helps me to un-clench and re-evaluate any negative circumstances.

Running is a newer activity that I have gotten into.  I definitely was not a runner in high school.  I was part of 4x100 relay team in grade 9 and it was not the best experience.  There were only 4 grade 9s and so I felt like I had to by default, but I am not fast.  I worked so hard, but knew that each race I was letting my team down.  I never looked forward to a race.  Long distance running was also a challenge and I only really did it to fill the requirement in PE.

During the second year of my undergrad, I decided that I wanted to become a runner.  Not because I liked running, but because I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to see progress, and both my mum and younger sister were doing a half marathon that year and I could barely run for 10 minutes straight.  Talk about feeling under par.  There is value in being able to regulate your activity and I feel accomplished every time I reach another goal.  Plus, my mum always said that I should be able to run away if I am ever being chased by a bad guy and adrenaline can only get me so far.

It's true that running can be painful.  My muscles don't always want to cooperate--especially if it's raining or windy.  But it's also rewarding and addicting.  The runner's high is a thing and I can now say I like running--I've learned to like running.  While I don't see myself doing a marathon or even a half marathon, a colourful 5k is a real treat.

~ Rae

A new friend and I modelling our dyed clothes.