'The happiest 5k On The Planet...'
The alarm went off at 5 am; our lovely awakening alarm by Deva Premal, chanting the Gayatri mantra, was still rather early; and then the phone rang in our room – our second alarm…
Last night we asked Mr Louis - who owns Chez Marie Alish, our home for now - whether buses would be running at 5.30 in the morning? We needed to get to the roundabout at 'Mega J' to run back to Rodney bay, as we were taking part in ‘The Color Run’ we explained….
‘I will take you, I will take you’ he said without a moment’s hesitation….
And so he did; he drove us through the dark, warm morning to where the runners and walkers were gathering for the inaugural ‘St Lucia color run’!
The 'Color Run' is an international event – also known as ‘The happiest 5k on the planet’ !
There are just two rules: Runners must wear a white T shirt… And finish the run covered from head to toe in bright multi coloured dye!
Bags of coloured powder were being thrown over everyone, before the event had even begun... And at each kilometer along the route we ran through clouds of yellow, blue and red – all the colours of the rainbow!
The run is untimed and its emphasis is on fun - the aim is to enjoy every step!
In St Lucia ‘enjoy’ is a key word; the St Lucian's say it a lot ‘Enjoy‘! They say it with a lovely energy and ring to the word… They also say ‘be careful’ but we don’t heed that one as much! The ‘enjoy’ one, we join in with and embrace fully….
The first 'Color Run' was in 2011; it has grown exponentially, so that in 2014 it was run in 300 venues in 50 different countries.
And we were part of the first one, here in St Lucia!
We have discovered that St Lucian time has its own rhythm and rules, so the 6.30am start time was nearer 7.15am…
I watched runners arriving on the dot of the six thirty original ‘gun time’, and some were still jumping out of cars at six fifty…!
There was an atmosphere of fun and festivity; loud loud music that ‘made you dance’ filled the air, and lots of people were gyrating and clapping to the rhythm…
Laughter and chatter and powder dye was everywhere…
We were emersed in colour and laughter….
Suddenly there was movement towards a line; a gun fired and we all set off across the roundabout; children raced ahead, crowds of happy people streamed up the hill back to Rodney Bay…
After about two hundred metres everything started to settle down - Rodja and I ended up running most of the way together… we moved through the field eventually finishing in the first ten; I think I was sixth, but as there was no timing or officialdom, I am not sure…!
I do know that my inspiration was Rodja running beside me, and a young boy who ran ahead of us, the whole way. He was fluid and loose in his movements, and looked to be out for a morning jog; every so often he would glance around to check us out – so maybe he was keen to keep us behind him…!
He finished just in front of me, and came over for a high five; 'you inspired me’ I said 'you ran so well' - ‘so did you’ he replied…
‘Thank you …’ He seemed to be there alone, he wandered about afterwards; amongst the crowds, self contained and relaxed... I asked him his name – 'Randy' - and his age - 'twelve'...
I started running 5k (3 miles then) when I was twelve years old too… I can remember running up past my best friend Wendy’s house to the top of the hill, a mile and a half away from my home – and then back again…
The first time I did this run, I had to walk part of the hill, and so I trained myself to run all the way…
Rodja has said that he can see a chink in my stride, he says there is a timidness, involving a lot of compensation … “So I’d like to explore that over the rest of your stay and employ training to fix it...'
It is said that when the student is ready, the teacher appears… I 
am ready to fix it...
Re-addressing my running is opening me to clear anything remaining that holds me back from enjoying it fully – from having fun – from being part of joyously encouraging us all 'to be the happiest runners on the planet…'!
Anadi and I went for a cool down jog to the sea; as we approached the shining water, we looked up... Wow – the brightest most vibrant rainbow was arching across the sky; multi coloured, joyously matching the runners below, who were dancing together as one daubed all over in all the colours of this rainbow, which was stretched out like a matching ribbon above them…!
