Bloomington, IN: JB5K IU Color the Campus Fun Run

One thing the department I work for puts on every fall is the JB5K, which is now also known as the IU Color the Campus Fun Run. The backstory on this run is pretty solemn, but what it has evolved into is something very fun for its participants.

This run is named for Jill Behrman. She was a student at IU and worked for Campus Recreational Sports (which puts on this run). One day she left on a bike ride, and she never came home. Three years later they found her body and determined she was murdered. I was in middle school when she disappeared and went to school with one of her cousins, so the whole ordeal hit pretty close to home. RecSports started this run in her memory.

Now it's a huge race that raises money and promotes violence awareness. Last year color was incorporated (if you have ever done Holi or another color run, it's those colored powder packets), and everyone went crazy for it. I was a volunteer directing race traffic this year and took a few shots of people going by.

Thousands of people participant in this race just for fun (it's not timed) and almost every single person who ran or walked by me was smiling. It was fun to see. We had a beautiful fall day which made it even more enjoyable.

After the crowds come through, clean up begins. The yellow powder above was at one of the color stations, and some RecSports people were trying in vain to clean up some of it. (Most of the color will eventually get washed away by rain, but they did want to try to clean up what they could.) The train tracks that run through campus got hit as well :)

The post-race party is what most people come for, besides getting a bunch of color thrown on themselves. Water and more color packets are provided, but the biggest draw is a post-race dance party with some of the group exercise leaders.

If you've never heard of the JB5K, it's a fun (inexpensive!) race through IU's campus. As of this writing, it's the only race at IU that actually goes through campus (and it's also the only color run). Check it out for next year. You do not need to be a student or a member of RecSports to participate in the race.



Note: Yes, I work here, but no one at work is telling me to write about this event (right now, no one here even knows I blog!). I just want to be consistent and keep track of all the things I've done. Plus, this race brought back a lot of memories for me and I wanted to share it with you.