5K Friday: Have You Done The Color Run?

If you read about 5K races, you have undoubtedly seen advertisements or mentions of The Color Run. The Color Run says that it is “the happiest 5K on the planet” and continues to expand throughout the world. They currently are held in almost 100 cities around the world with another 25 coming soon. For a series that is only two years old, that is incredible. In fact, their first year saw over 600,000 participants!

As popular as it is, it also has had a lot of controversy with it as well. With stories ranging from the photographer who accused them of using his work without permission (and received a settlement from it) to the way that various outlets view their charity work, there has been a lot of ink about a negative aspect to the event. Some of the people that have not positive things to say have their criticism rooted in the cost to run in it – $45 for an individual to run the 5K distance. Some of that criticism may also stem from regret that some of the people had not thought of it first. 🙂 An average color run is said to bring in around $500,000. Not a bad event to own!

However, it can be hard to argue with success. Their events draw thousands of runners and many are sold out events. For those who are not familiar with it, it is basically an un-timed distance run of 5K with colors being sprayed at the runners at various points throughout the race and then a huge finish festival with more of the same.

So, I am wondering if any of you have run any of The Color Runs and, if so, what your thoughts were on the event. Was it something you would do again? Do you like it or not? If not, what was it that you did not like? From a personal basis, I doubt I would ever do one of these since it just isn’t the type of event I would normally like to run in, but I can tell that there are many who do like it!