On the 27th June 2021 I took part in the Penshurst Place Running Festival which is part of the Castle Run Series. A fantastic day which had something for everyone. I decided to take part in the 10k timed run, which was the first event of the day. I had the aim to finish this and then meet my family for the 5k Colour Run. I decided to choose the first wave of the 5k Colour Run, which started an hour after the start of the 10k.
We started with a family #flatlay. As I always get my kit together the night before race day, I got my family to join me with preparations, and get all their kit together. My family will often join me at a race to do a shorter distance, but it’s not often we all get to run together.
We arrived nice and early to park our car on site. It was 10 pounds for parking and we were right next to the event village. There was a large space in front of the stage with lots of options to eat and drink. It looks like a great site for a camping weekend event, with a similar feel to RunFestRun. When we arrived I made my way to the 10k start and my family got some drinks and returned to the car to get ready as it had started to rain.
The 10k was a tough one to be honest. It was a proper trail event, through woods and fields, and it had plenty of hills over the 10k distance. There were two laps, the first was definitely more difficult, with the second 5k being slightly more gently.
I had originally aimed for a sub 45 min 10k, but with the difficulty of the course I was more than happy with 45:50. Honestly I could have pushed and ran sub 45, but when I finished I had 15 minutes before the start of the 5k Colour Run. So I was sensible, finished, ran to car to change top, and then join family ready to get covered in colour.
As part of the colour run entry we all received a white top and one packet of powder paint. So our getting ready was less of a warm up and more of a paint fight.
The 5k Colour Run was the same lap that I ran for my first lap of the 10k. It is a hard lap for anyone, and this was the first time my kids had ran this distance, and my wife hasn’t been running for ages. But the point of this was to have fun, it was also the first time we have taken part in a Colour Run.
We had so much fun from start to finish. The paint included was plenty, there was an option to upgrade for more paint, but we didn’t need it. We were sent off in small waves to keep distance (covid obvs) and as we crossed the start line there was paint thrown at us. But just 100 metres from the start green paint was blown at us like a big cloud, it was a great start.
I was so impressed with my family over the course. There was a lot of walking the hills, frankly I needed to as well. But there was also so much running and they all really enjoyed it. At the first 1k marker we had paint thrown at us, then more hills, before the foam at 2k.
The foam was knee deep (well hip deep for the kids) with more foam being blown all over us. This was the favourite bit for the kids, although they loved it all.
There was paint at every km from this point, and arguably the 3k mark was the best… we came out pink.
We had some walking and some carrying. Benjamin ran the whole way and was actually waiting a lot for us all. I can’t wait to get him to some 5k races, but not pushing it as he loses interest quickly when he finds it difficult.
There were smiles the whole way round, and we had some more blue, orange and yellow thrown on us.
I had wondered before the event what the impact of covid would have been. I thought that it would be a watered down version without the mass start, thinking that the paint would be spread at the busier sections. But it wasn’t. Every single km there was more paint and we got covered.
What I liked is we had the option. At the paint sections the volunteers were all great, being careful with kids and asking as you approached if you wanted more paint. This is great if worried that your kids might not like it. We wore sunglasses to protect our eyes, but the only stuff that was thrown at our faces came from us. It was considerate, safe and well organised.
Smiles from my family make me happy. A perfect day. The kids would have liked a medal, but it wasn’t a problem that this wasn’t included. They have a lovely tee as a memento.
Beer and bratwurst at the end, with cheesy chips, hog roast for family, and much more to choose from. Really can’t think of anything that would have made this day more perfect.
Have you done a colour run before? What was your experience?
pickupthepacepaul 
What a lovely day and lovely to read how careful and considerate the organisers were. Penshurst is a lovely part of the world, near to where I grew up, so nice to see a bit of it, too!
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It is so lovely, never been there before
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