RUN!

Recently, my brother and myself signed up for a 5K called The Grand Rapids Mud Run. On the morning of, we woke up around 8am, brushed our teeth, threw on shorts and a T. Our start time was 9am, so as you can tell, we were pretty lax about this whole thing. We get there and I was just in absolute awe.

People LOVE 5Ks and I have absolutely NO idea why.

A 5K is a 5 kilometer run. For those of you who don't want to Google the conversion, its 3.10686 miles. But most people won't just run a 5K because it's a 5K. I'd say about 99.9% of 5Ks have some sort of theme or cause. People love saying they ran for boobs or because people were throwing paint at them(we'll get to that later).

So, this particular mud run I went to, people, quite obviously, spent too much money for a roughly 30 minute race. Registration fee was $65, team shirts were probably $25, and not to mention all the silly accessories like tutus people were donning. Some people easily spent $100+ on this race. I'm not saying everyone has to be like me, I'm just saying choose your battles.

The Most Common Themed 5Ks:

 Spartan Race and Warrior Dash

I put these 2 races together because they are the exact same. Both obstacle course mud runs. Obstacles like monkey bars, walls, rope ladders, etc. These are in fact quite fun, but don't think it will last forever. I think that they are fun and any non-running badass(much like myself) should test their abilities.

Run For You Lives

Now this one is interesting, however just a 5K. Zombies chase you. I'm not sure if they are allowed to touch you or hinder you in anyway besides making you contemplate whether or not you'll survive the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Which you won't. Because zombies for some reason are incredibly conditioned.

 The Color Run

This is the one that just fucking gets me. And not "gets me" like a twin would say about their twin, but "gets me" like I can't understand how dumb people are. Straight forward 5K that claims it's "the happiest 5K on the planet". Why so happy on a 5K? BECAUSE THEY THROW COLORED POWDER AT YOU. Like, you're colorful at the end and happy as shit. I don't know. Leave me alone.

Justification

Alright, I know I just knocked people who run. Running is in fact dumb, but that's neither here nor there. I think themed 5Ks are fine, I just don't like how we spend so much on them and build them up so high. Seriously, if the Color Run comes in your area, just watch your FB feed that day. Juuuuuuuuusttttttt watch. I do however love the idea of people losing weight in anticipation of a 5K. People who signed up and told themselves that they need to be in great shape for it. It's an awesome thing to see. I could never be mad at a success story.

There is one race that I've always had my eye on. Its a little more than 3 miles, but the idea is just absolute genius. It's easy to explain, but I think that this link should be enough to convince you as well.