On a breezy Saturday afternoon, junior Hanah C. is in a crowd filled with energy and excitement. There’s shouting and cheering as the emcee does the countdown.

“5…4…3…2…1, throw!” A spectrum of colored powders flies into the sky, flung by the runners and volunteers, giving Choice an exhilarating thrill as she runs by.

On November 17, the Color Fun Fest 5K was held at Reliant Park. Also known as the Color of Fun, it’s a 5K run inspired by a traditional Hindu festival called Holi. Volunteers known as “color bombers” throw a variety of color powder at participants running on a course laid out by the Color Fun Fest coordinators. Runners pay a registration fee and a portion of the proceeds go to the American Heart Association.

Many students volunteered, while some took the opportunity to actually run the race.

For Hanah, whose friend told her about the Color Fun Fest, this was her very first 5K.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she said. “I hate running but the pictures on their website made it look fun. Plus, I wanted to have my junior moment since I usually don’t do things like that outside of school.”

On arrival at Reliant Park, the other runners intimidated Hanah.

“The other runners looked so in shape,” she said.  “Some guy took like three minutes to run the whole thing.”

During the run, though, Hanah was able to take her mind off of the other runners and instead focused on the colors that would be thrown at her.

“I always got excited when I saw the color bombers ahead, especially since they were people we knew,” she said. “[I liked] the before and after; everyone was clean and then after everybody had colors. Everyone was happy and laughing and rolling in colors.”

Sophomore Angela T., a volunteer, worked the registration booth.

“When there was a huge line and I checked people in, I thought it was fun because I felt a sense of adrenaline since there was long line,” she said. “I had to sign in people quickly.”

Senior Beverly U., the community service head for STUCO, chose this event because she believed it was a different opportunity for students to volunteer at.

“I wanted to have activities to drive people out from their homes because if you don’t have fun things, they’ll just take the easy way out to get points,” she said.

Beverly was a color bomber.

“I liked throwing the colors because it was just fun throwing things at people. It was nice to see the runners having fun,” Umeh said. “But it was freezing and we couldn’t wear our jackets. The color got stuck in my car seats and it still will not come off.”

Junior Hanson L. liked being a color bomber for a different reason.

“While I was throwing colors, it was funny how some people were getting hurt because we were accidentally throwing the powder in the people’s faces,” he said.

The color, though, proved to be an annoyance to him.

“The color was getting into my mouth,” he said. “When I got home, I saw there was color in my ears—there’s still color on my clothes and some parts of my hair.”

After the run, all the runners received color powder packets and did an in-sync throw. With this, Hanah saw the reason why this run for her was unforgettable.

“The final color throw was beautiful; it built a sense of community,” Choice said. “When we all put the color together and the fact that everyone was willing to do it for charity, it was a memorable experience.”