When my alarm went off at 6am on Saturday morning, my involuntary response was to groan… But then I remembered, IT WAS COLOR RUN DAY with my Team Shout® ladies! I leapt out of bed, wriggled into my clothes, and called a car as fast as I could.

When I jumped out of the SUV in Queens, wearing a white t-shirt, white tutu, white knee-socks and heart-shaped sunglasses, I was quite a sight… But I fit right in. Everyone else was dressed just as weirdly. People were wearing white head-to-toe, and had accessorised with tutus, weird wigs, and temporary tattoos applied to faces. It was like going to a rave at a country club.

Despite the tutus and rainbow headbands, our group started out looking relatively normal. And what a CUTE BUNCH they were!

In the back row, left to right, we have Islandia (who attended our first ever Blogcademy in NYC!), Nicole, Kristen, Hua Helen, and Nikki (who came to the birthday party Shauna and I threw in Central Park in 2008!). In the front row, we have Megan (another Blogcademy babe: she assisted us in NYC!), me, and Francine. Seriously, I could not have asked for a cooler group. I loved each and every one of them!

Before we knew it, it was time to start. Because we were there with Shout®, we got to stand at the very front of the pack, behind the line of tape. The countdown started — 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! — and we were off! We ran for about thirty seconds, then looked around at each other.

“Why are we running?! Let’s just walk!”

It was settled, then!

Here’s how The Color Run works: the length of the whole thing is 5 kilometres, and at every kilometre marker, there’s a station where volunteers spritz you with coloured powder. (It’s a mix of corn starch powder and dye.)

The first station was pink, and to say I was excited is an understatement! I skipped into the centre of the station and spread my arms and legs out like a starfish, hoping for maximum colour.

I think my tactic worked pretty well… This is what we looked like after the pink station! I loved how my tutu took on a subtle hue, which only got more and more electric as the day went on!

None of us were shy about becoming human rainbows: we raced into every station at full speed. Of course, the fact that we’d all received Shout® goodie bags full of cleaning products helped, too! We were able to have fun, get messy, and rediscover our sense of childlike joy without worrying about the consequences. Hell yeah!

Just call us Team #Selfie!

By this point, we’d been through pink, blue, orange, and purple stations. The blue station was particularly nuts: the volunteers had smeared the powder all over their faces, and looked like smurfs. I didn’t go quite that far, choosing instead to kick the colour around with my Nikes. When I got home, I discovered my toes were totally blue! (They still have a blue tinge, really. I can’t imagine how those volunteers got all the powder off!)

As you can see, Kristen wore a Go Pro on her head to document the madness. What a trooper!

The best part of the whole day, though, was something Shout® hooked us up with: at the end, our group went up on stage! Dancing up there, to House Of Pain’s Jump Around, in front of thousands of people, was totally the highlight of my day.

…To top it all off, the entire crowd threw orange (Shout®-inspired!) powder in unison! It looked AMAZING. Click play! Swoon!

After that, we were totally high on life. We ran over to the Shout® 360° Color Cam to jump, leap, scream… And see it all the way around! So sick! (I want one of these in my house…)

Then we danced. Because life is amazing.

All in all, it was an absolutely incredible day. I couldn’t believe how much we had experienced, and all before midday!

We had THE BEST time, and I cannot recommend The Color Run enough! If it’s coming to your city — and hey, the odds of that are excellent — you simply have to go. Wear your freshest whites, and then get them gloriously, wonderfully filthy!

If there’s no Color Run near you, or that’s not quite your style, never fear! To help you find more activities in your neighborhood, or any city you travel to, Shout® has launched the Shout It Out Fun Finder so you can have fun wherever, whenever!

I loved our little team. Thank you Islandia, Nicole, Nikki, Hua Helen, Francine, Kristen, and Megan! You are such babes, and such great company! I will never forget our day together!

And of course, kisses to the whole team at Shout® for hooking us up, and making the entire day so wonderful and memorable. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do something I’d wanted to experience for years. You are amazing!

Going to scrub my blue toes again,

This post was brought to you by the most excellent people at Shout®.