Run or Dye
Yesterday Riley and I had a fantastic experience in downtown Dallas at Fair Park. The running event 'Run or Dye' came to Dallas today and we were so excited to be a part of it!! I registered us for the race when I heard about it. And it was one of my goals this year to do a 5K. Little did I know I'd actually get to run one a few weeks ago and this would end up just being a great bonding experience with one of my favorite girls!
I picked up our running packets at LA Fitness on Friday and got our dye packets and tshirts. They only had adult tshirts so I used one of Riley's other tshirts as a pattern and cut and sewed her a new tshirt that would fit her. So we both wore our new tshirts and shorts and old running shoes.
We woke up early at 6am and I got Riley up right after. She asked for a hug and then I carried her downstairs and she said so sweetly "You're the best, Mom." Totally made my day!
We got all ready and drove to the DART train station in Carrollton. Riley was excited to ride her first train ever! We took the train for almost an hour. Riley loved looking out the windows especially when we were up high and looking out over the city. It was fun to point out neat points in downtown.
When we arrived, we found the bathrooms and waited over an hour in line!!! I had all of our things in a black bag (sunscreen, ipod, phone and snacks). I carried two bottles of water for the two of us. We were all prepared for a great day!
After we went to the bathroom, we got in line to start the race. There was loud music and tons of people dressed up (tutus, matching outfits, families, etc...). They had a countdown every five minutes. When they reached one, you could throw your packet filled with dye up in the air. Everyone had different colors of dye to throw in the air. We had purple! Riley laughed so hard and was super excited to watch the colors being thrown in the air and to throw hers up in the air.
They would let 500-700 people through the starting line every five minutes. When it was our turn to go through, Riley wanted to run so we ran a short while and then walked.
She was quite tired from walking on the grounds before the race - especially having to wait for the restroom. At one point, she didn't complain, but just simply sat down in the middle of the race path. So I carried her for a short point. Then we ate a snack while we walked.
Riley wanted to run whenever she saw the dye zone ahead. There were four different dye zones on the race course. In each dye zone, there was a different color being tossed onto the runners. The first was purple - then pink, green and yellow. Riley loved having the dye tossed on her and even asked some of the race helpers if she could have a handful of the dye to toss. And when they would give her a handful, she almost always tossed some on them as well! They always laughed and smiled. And so did she.
It was extremely hot and with lots of pavement everywhere, it was really hot! We ate some snacks, drank our water and played some games along the way to keep her entertained. She never complained. Did say "Whew - I'm hot!" or "Can we rest for a minute?" But then we'd see a dye zone and she would run to it!
Some of the time, she even said "I'm gonna walk... just kidding!" and would take off running and giggling. It was never too congested for us and we were always able to take our time if needed.
When she got to the green dye zone, she chose to roll on the ground to get green all over her. Then I rolled in it too. It was so fun!
I was incredibly proud of her persevering and being able to finish 3.1 miles. We got to the finish line and took some pics. Then went to the stage area where they were playing music and doing countdowns every 5-10 minutes. They threw out tons of dye packets. And on "one" everyone threw so many of them in the air, that it was just a massive cloud of colorful dye in the air. So incredibly cool.
We walked to the train station and rode an hour home. When we opened the door to come into the house, Jeremy was like "Woh!!! Oh wow!" Julia looked totally confused and asked "Why did you do that? Why did you paint yourself?"
The shower was hilarious. Riley's hair was green and purple. Tons and tons and tons of dye poured into the shower. It was really something to get it all out of her hair and body. Her scalp was still green and purple in various spots all over. Came out the rest of the way today.
Riley was so excited to do it and even said "I can't wait to do this next weekend!" I had to tell her that she'd get to do it next year if the event comes again. And she is very excited about that!
I picked up our running packets at LA Fitness on Friday and got our dye packets and tshirts. They only had adult tshirts so I used one of Riley's other tshirts as a pattern and cut and sewed her a new tshirt that would fit her. So we both wore our new tshirts and shorts and old running shoes.
We woke up early at 6am and I got Riley up right after. She asked for a hug and then I carried her downstairs and she said so sweetly "You're the best, Mom." Totally made my day!
We got all ready and drove to the DART train station in Carrollton. Riley was excited to ride her first train ever! We took the train for almost an hour. Riley loved looking out the windows especially when we were up high and looking out over the city. It was fun to point out neat points in downtown.
When we arrived, we found the bathrooms and waited over an hour in line!!! I had all of our things in a black bag (sunscreen, ipod, phone and snacks). I carried two bottles of water for the two of us. We were all prepared for a great day!
After we went to the bathroom, we got in line to start the race. There was loud music and tons of people dressed up (tutus, matching outfits, families, etc...). They had a countdown every five minutes. When they reached one, you could throw your packet filled with dye up in the air. Everyone had different colors of dye to throw in the air. We had purple! Riley laughed so hard and was super excited to watch the colors being thrown in the air and to throw hers up in the air.
They would let 500-700 people through the starting line every five minutes. When it was our turn to go through, Riley wanted to run so we ran a short while and then walked.
She was quite tired from walking on the grounds before the race - especially having to wait for the restroom. At one point, she didn't complain, but just simply sat down in the middle of the race path. So I carried her for a short point. Then we ate a snack while we walked.
Riley wanted to run whenever she saw the dye zone ahead. There were four different dye zones on the race course. In each dye zone, there was a different color being tossed onto the runners. The first was purple - then pink, green and yellow. Riley loved having the dye tossed on her and even asked some of the race helpers if she could have a handful of the dye to toss. And when they would give her a handful, she almost always tossed some on them as well! They always laughed and smiled. And so did she.
It was extremely hot and with lots of pavement everywhere, it was really hot! We ate some snacks, drank our water and played some games along the way to keep her entertained. She never complained. Did say "Whew - I'm hot!" or "Can we rest for a minute?" But then we'd see a dye zone and she would run to it!
Some of the time, she even said "I'm gonna walk... just kidding!" and would take off running and giggling. It was never too congested for us and we were always able to take our time if needed.
When she got to the green dye zone, she chose to roll on the ground to get green all over her. Then I rolled in it too. It was so fun!
I was incredibly proud of her persevering and being able to finish 3.1 miles. We got to the finish line and took some pics. Then went to the stage area where they were playing music and doing countdowns every 5-10 minutes. They threw out tons of dye packets. And on "one" everyone threw so many of them in the air, that it was just a massive cloud of colorful dye in the air. So incredibly cool.
We walked to the train station and rode an hour home. When we opened the door to come into the house, Jeremy was like "Woh!!! Oh wow!" Julia looked totally confused and asked "Why did you do that? Why did you paint yourself?"
The shower was hilarious. Riley's hair was green and purple. Tons and tons and tons of dye poured into the shower. It was really something to get it all out of her hair and body. Her scalp was still green and purple in various spots all over. Came out the rest of the way today.
Riley was so excited to do it and even said "I can't wait to do this next weekend!" I had to tell her that she'd get to do it next year if the event comes again. And she is very excited about that!
Comments
Post a Comment