Not long ago, if I told you I was doing a color run, you wouldn't believe me. I wouldn't even let the kids use finger paint when they were younger and I go out of my way to avoid face painting. Why? Because of the clean up. I never want to deal with the clean up. But when The Color Run arrived in my town for the first time, I knew the kids and I would have a blast... A very messy blast.And I was right.I've worked on getting Jordan's running back up to speed a little so we could manage the 5K run at a local park. I dragged an untrained Cameron into the mix as well because I knew this run wasn't about the speed, it was about the fun. Even though I had to wake him up early, by the end of it, even the slightly unimpressed teenager agreed the sleep loss was worth it.This year's The Color Run isn't just a ton of colored cornstarch thrown at you, it also includes SPARKLES. Yes. sparkles. That gave Jordan and I an excuse to wear our Sparkle Athletic skirts and get very, very messy. To add to the fun, we bought a "runicorn" for Jordan to cover with sparkles and color. She was very proud to turn it all kinds of colors. Plus, she threw a race "HAPPY" tattoo on her little arm - it looked awesome in extra colors.After a couple of small sibling tiffs and convincing the kids to run longer and longer stretches in between walking, we made it to the end. Not only did we earn a medal, each person was given a bag of color powder and a sparkle bag.If you think a color run is fun while you're running through sections where people spray color and sparkles, the big color party at the end is just as fun. Periodically, leaders from a stage encourage runners to open up their powder bags and throw them into the air at the same time. It was a windy day in our town so those colors mixed together very quickly. If you place yourself in the very middle of all those colors, you can end up VERY covered.The kids were pretty proud of their levels of mess. I had cut up plastic trash bags earlier in the morning so we wouldn't have to clean off until we got home. Tide was offering blowers to get take off the excess powder, but our crew wanted to carry it all home.A couple of other tips if you plan to run The Color Run:1. Cover your phone in a plastic bag. I alternated between shooting photos and video through the bag and taking it out during less mess portions of the run to take additional pictures.2. Make sure your kids have a washcloth and soap to get that color off. Blue is the trickiest color. Jordan still has a little blue inside one of her ears - she told me she wanted to keep it that way so she could prove she did the run to her friends at school.3. The color almost completely washes out of your clothes with one hearty wash in the clothes washer. Jordan demanded I not wash hers... She wants to hang it up on a wall in her room. I plan to spend a while convincing her not to put it up on a wall.4. They call the race the "Happiest 5K on the Planet." I don't know about that, but we were all grinning ear to ear through the whole experience. I know both kids will be sure to jump into a race like this again any time.