By Walt Johnson
Fort Carson Office of Public Affairs
FORT CARSON, Colo. — More than 500 runners participated in the annual Color Fest 5k run sponsored by the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Office of Special Events on August 27, 2022.
Sunny skies and a gentle breeze were perfect for the runners, making the run as enjoyable as possible. The idea of running was exciting for many runners, but also the idea of having color on them added more excitement to the race.
Jennifer Noble said you could describe her and her friends as a “tribe from six different backgrounds and walks of life” who have unique personalities, but started getting together during the pandemic every weekend and they have been doing ever since. The two women are mail neighbors, and on August 27, 2022, it gave them the opportunity to get together to run the race and celebrate a friend’s son’s birthday.
“We do many activities together such as going to concerts and restaurants. We’ve also been known to do themed things like dress up as old ladies, for example, and theme parties all the time,” Noble said. “We get together every Friday night and you know we’re us because it’s noisy. So we thought it would be fun to go out and do the race today.”
Amanda Garcia and Kayla Ababsantos, two of Nobles’ friends, can often be found at the gym lifting weights, which is why they like to call them the “Buff Bunnies.” But on Saturday they traded the weights for the chance to train on the color rink and join the kids who were able to have fun on the many bounce houses and water slides.
“We wanted to do something different like spray ourselves with color. I want to be colorful today. And when we finish the race, we want to go into the bouncy houses and have fun there too,” Garcia said.
Kaira Ambrose’s family was able to come out and enjoy the festivities, something she isn’t always able to do since her husband is a service member. This was one time they would be able to run the race together, and she was very excited to be able to share the day with her husband on the track.
“We wanted to bring the family out to enjoy the bounce houses, and this will give my husband and I a chance to run a race together,” Ambrose said. “I’ve run some before, but he has a lot of military commitments and isn’t always able to run these races. I think it’s going to be great to do it with him, and I’m really excited for the opportunity to do it with him.”
After the national anthem the runners left the starting line with clean clothes and bright smiles. It wasn’t long before those clean clothes became multi-colored, as at one station after another, DFMWR staff members splashed runners with colors as they passed with smiles on their faces, just signifying another successful career.
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