Full of color, smiles, running, and music—the happiest 5k on the planet, the Color Run, occurred Saturday May 31^st at Citi Field. Some WHB students, including myself, were lucky enough to get tickets before they sold out.

The Color Run is “an unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness and individuality. It is now the single largest event series in the United States,” according to thecolorrun.com. The Color Run donates the money to charity; they have donated more than three million dollars to date. Kelly Mead, a junior, who attended the event, said, “They don’t lie when they call it the happiest 5k on the planet!”

The race started at 9 am. My friends and I drove to Ronkonkoma and took that train to Penn Station, then transferred on a few subways to get to Citi Field.

We got there and were amazed at how many people there were! We later found out that about 13,000 people attended the event. I had heard that people from the South came all the way to New York to attend the event, which is crazy!

We grabbed our “package,” which included a t-shirt, headband, bracelet, our number and temporary tattoos that said “The Color Run” and “happy.”

The race began; you don’t have to run the race and it is not a timed event.  The first color we ran through was pink, then blue, purple and orange. At the end of the race, there was food and an amazing party where they handed out bags with color packets inside to those who finished. The DJ came out and it became a huge almost-concert. Every so often, they would announce when the color throw would be (see video). The color throw is where everyone throws up his or her color packets in the air.

Kelly’s favorite part was, “throwing up the powdered packets of color and watching it come down all around you.” Gabby Siraco, a sophomore, added, “Believe it or not the first time I was in the crowd and all the color was thrown up at once it was probably the scariest moment of my life; it was like a giant cloud of gray color that engulfs you.” Make sure to hold your breath other wise you’ll be coughing and blowing colors out of your nose, like I was!

“The craziest thing during the event was going on stage in front of 13,000 people with my best friends; it’s unforgettable,” said Emily Bak, a junior.

Some advice and suggestions for future goers are to “bring a plastic bag for your phone. It will get ruined if you don’t. Bring sunglasses to cover your eyes from the color,” said Emily. Gabby highly recommends “wearing sunglasses, cheap or old ones that you wouldn’t mind getting colored and breathing through your shirts if you can’t handle the color dust.” Gianna Acompora, a sophomore, also recommends “getting to the run early and bringing lots of friends to experience the run with.”

We all look forward to the next one! More kids from Westhampton Beach are going to The Color Run in July in Brooklyn. Junior Kyle Terry said, “I am looking forward to spending time with my track team and having fun.”

There are many other fun 5k’s like this one and they are becoming very popular. The Color Run will be held again on July 5 & 6, so sign up ASAP. There is no age limit for the race, but you do have to sign up with an adult if under the age of 18.  There is also The Electric Run, which is a 5k that occurs in the dark. The Electric Run will be held on September 5^th. I’ll be there and I hope to see more of Westhampton!

The Color Run was a 5k I will never forget. As Gabby  said, “If you haven’t gone to The Color Run, you should be obligated to go to at least one in your life, you’ll have the best time. For me, it was one of the best days in my life!”