Color Up 5k Draws Enthusiastic Multi-Colored Crowd

San Angeloans flocked to the Spring Creek Park early Saturday morning on the banks of a chilly Lake Nasworthy. With the sun hidden behind a curtain of steely grey clouds, sounds of music bumping from a couple oversized speakers and laughing, shouting, and any other noise associated with having a good time carried on the cool morning air.

These were the sights and sounds of the second Color Up 5K race that took place Saturday, March 22. The event is put on by Race Texas Sports, a company who specializes in triathlons. Owners Jim and Terri Ross plan and execute many races around the state of Texas, with the Color Run just being one of the many events they produce.

“We are also going to produce a Mud Run this year called Renaissance Run at Renaissance Festival. We produce ‘Fightin’ Texas Mud Run’ at Texas World Speedway in College Station,” owner Terri Ross said. “In the past we have produced triathlons [for] kids in addition to triathlons for adults. We just produce a variety of races.”

The Color Up 5K is a unique race for many different reasons. The layout is a 5 kilometer track (or 3.1 miles for us Americans) that goes from hard asphalt to caliche to dead grass and leaves.

Stationed around the winding course are four “color zones” that runners sprint, jog, walk, or even spin through. Each zone has their own particular color that is sprayed and thrown at the contestants passing through, creating a mixed medley of color madness all over the once pristine white shirts that came with each registration packet before the race.

But the color doesn’t end there.

Upon completion, runners are handed a free color pack that is filled with a colorful dust. Directly next to the finish line is an area known as the Color Party. Here, the huge speakers from before jam today’s musical hits as throngs of people gather, some dancing, some laughing, but all having a good time.

When the pit is full, a countdown is initiated and at the end, the neon color from the packets is unleashed into the air, not to mention the hair, eyes, or faces of anyone standing too close. The result is a mystifying fog of color rising up and away on the wind, and a mass of multi-colored people.

For this particular event, there was a range of contestants. There were teams with names ranging from Scrambled Legs, Wonder Women, and 50 Shades of Awesome. There were babies being pushed by moms in jogging strollers, children beating their older counterparts, grandmothers in frilly tutus and visors, young men wearing women shorts, and even a giant pumpkin. Yes, you read that right. A giant man-pumpkin at a 5K race.

That diversity is just the way the event producers want their race to be.

“Many of our runners for this event are first time 5K racers. So what we love about it is that it’s a non-threatening way to encourage people to get active and to have fun with their family and friends. So, we have all different kinds of racers just out to have a great time,” Ross said.

With a goal of having fun and encouraging people to become more active, the race will also be helping the area of San Angelo itself in a couple of direct ways. Part of the race’s proceeds go to, “…not only Lake Nasworthy, but we are also supporting the River Fest here in San Angelo,” Ross said.

The idea to produce different triathlons and events that can help in so many different ways was born out of a love to keep active.

“It all started years ago when we went on a vacation to Colorado and were introduced to the sport of triathlons, so we started producing triathlons. We had people come up to us and asked us to start producing races and we thought this is something we might could do because we love having an active family,” Ross said.

The color run itself is one event that is produced by others around the state. Ross says that, “We had just heard about some [color runs] that had started a few years earlier and we thought, you know, we can do that. We can do research and we can go to other markets and have our own version.

“It’s a joyful event and we are very blessed to be doing it,” Ross added.

Asked if the event would make a return to San Angelo next year, Ross smiled and said laughing, “We hope so! We hope so!”

Judging by the response from the participants Saturday morning, they hope so as well.