I shared a post on my Instagram account at the weekend with the quote ‘Life is art, live yours in colour’ with this picture:
I spent Sunday morning at Penhurst Place for the Run or Dye event with my family and had an absolute blast!
The Run or Dye event is a fun run inspired by the ancient Hindu festival of Holi, known as the Festival of Colours. All participants are given a bag with a white tshirt, face tattoo and packet of brightly coloured dye. The dye used is 100% safe and made out of coloured cornstarch so completely natural and causes no harm to the skin or environment and is designed to wash out of clothes and hair – my sons girlfriend wore a white pair of trainers that actually look rather funky now and so does the baseball hat my son wore – almost don’t want to wash them!
The idea of wearing a white tshirt is to really show up all the colours of the dye. There are three distances on offer from 1km, 3.5km and 5km so really something for everyone in terms of ability and no pressure for times with fun being the key element. The event also supports the Kiss It Better appeal, which was started by Carmel Allen, whose daughter, Josephine, was treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital for neuroblastoma. The money raised by Kiss it Better goes towards paediatric cancer research at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
I was signed up with my husband, son and his girlfriend and it was really nice to get out to an event that would be suitable for all of us together. There is such a family feel to it and I am not sure in some cases who was more excited – the children or the adults!
There was a lot going on at the start with a rock choir, competitions, dance off’s, music and dancing, warm ups and lots of dye being thrown around. There are food and drink stalls not only for those taking part but also those who were there to cheer people on. Once in the start funnel there was more music, Mexican waves and more dye being thrown around so everyone was in a totally party mood and smiles all round right from the outset.
Penhurst Place is stunning and having attending the venues that Castle Triathlon use for their triathlons and Commando Series obstacle run I must say that I am always certain wherever an event is from these guys you are guaranteed a gorgeous venue so I knew this would be the same and it didn’t disappoint!
I also knew that it was fairly certain to be hilly and it was and in the heat it was tough! Seeing the foam station was so welcome and completely refreshing too – I am sure a lot of us spent a few more minutes in there than entirely necessary but it was so good.
There are dye stations at 5 intervals throughout the run and so you get covered in the dye more and more as you run and it just adds to the fun.
It is such a family orientated event and so good to see so many kids, parents and whole families taking part. It is rare that I do an event with my husband but even more so with my son and his girlfriend and so finishing together was great! We were all covered in different coloured dye and the party atmosphere continued at the finish with games involving the crowd and you guessed it – more dye!
My race entry was complimentary, but all opinions are my own.
I’ve looked at a few of these because they do look as if they’d be fun. However, as an asthma sufferer I worry that I’ll get a lung full of the dye (whatever it’s made from) and end up coughing myself to standstill. What’s it like actually running through the stuff?
I don’t have asthma, however, both my husband and sons girlfriend do and they took part in this also and found it to be fine so hopefully you’d be absolutely ok! It is like running through a cloud but I do get what you mean – I tend to hold my breath and run through ha ha