I just heard about this for the first time today, but The Color Run in Savannah on August 17, 2013, had to have been in the works for months.
There are also runs that same day in Montreal, Buffalo, and Toledo.
From the “About Us” section of the website:
The Color Runâ„¢, also known as the Happiest 5k on the Planet, is a unique paint race that celebrates healthiness, happiness, individuality, and giving back to the community.
Less about your 10-minute-mile and more about having the time of your life, The Color Run is a five-kilometer, un-timed race in which thousands of participants are doused from head to toe in different colors at each kilometer. The fun continues at the finish line with a gigantic “Color Festival,†using more colored powder to create happiness and lasting memories, not to mention millions of vivid color combinations. Trust us, this is the best post-5k party on the planet!
With only two rules, the idea is easy to follow:
1. Wear white at the starting line
2. Finish plastered in colorNow the single largest event series in the nation, The Color Run is exploding since our debut event in January of 2012 and will grow from over 50 events and 600,000 participants in 2012, to over 100 events and over a million participants in 2013.
Like the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in November, this race is operated by a private company. In other words, while this event will benefit Horizons Savannah partnership between Savannah Country Day School and Bethesda Academy, it’s a for-profit event.
Registration begins at $40. Seems a little steep, frankly.
There’s lots more background info in The Color Run FAQ.
By the way, the colored dust seems likely to get all over town, but it’s some sort of corn starch mixture that washes and wears away pretty easily, allegedly.
Here’s the course map from the Savannah run page, with the “color zones” highlighted:
And here’s what this has looked like in other cities:
I suppose there are some sillier things that could happen on a hot Saturday in mid-August . . . or are there?