That was RAD

I really don't enjoy getting up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday but if I could volunteer for the Color Me Rad Run every Saturday, like we did today, I might be okay with the early wake-up time.

My wife and I volunteered this morning for the Raleigh RAD run, which benefited the Special Olympics of North Carolina, and we had a rad time.  The sold-out event was at the Time Warner Pavilion and after we arrive at 7 a.m. we were assigned to the liquid-color station.  The event is a 5 K run where the runners are bombarded with colored corn starch throughout the run and at the finish.  When the runners are done they look like they just ran through a rainbow carwash.

There was a lot of excitement amount the group of volunteers.  Most of the other volunteers were volunteering through N.C. State and they were nice kids.  I say kids now because they really do seem young to me now.  Oh where has the time gone.  But back to the run, we had to drive around to the different stations to unload supplies from the converted moving trucks.  Although I think our truck used to haul onions because it really smelled funky.

Our job was to use our spray-packs to douse the runners in green as they passed our station along the course.  The packs totally looked and felt like something right out of Ghostbusters.  We were the last station so many runners came through colorful already.  Those that didn't have enough color were our primary targets.  I had to chase down a few to make sure they were covered.  I even snuck up on a few people after they thought they had passed.  Everyone was having a great time and enjoying the fun atmosphere of the event.

It looked like all the runners had a good time and I know I did.  One thing I'm sure of is that we plan to volunteer the next time they come through town.  As they say, "tis better to give than receive."