FAMILY FUN AND MAKING MEMORIES LIFE-LONG MEMORIES

by Troy Pattee

When the thunder and lightning began at 4 a.m. the day of The Color Run, I took it as a great omen. I love summer storms, so for me this was just like having fireworks to celebrate the beginning of my first 5k. Just a few hours later our fellow members of Team Shout® and a few thousand of our closest friends were gathered at the starting line. The rain had stopped, the sky was blue, and it was time to have some fun.

Our family has had a goal this year of creating fun memories together, and this was the perfect opportunity. My 13-year-old son–who runs on his school’s cross country team–was on a camping trip, but my wife, 11-year-old son, and I were excited to break out and do something we wouldn’t normally do. The goal of the whole #ShoutItOut campaign is to get families to get out and have fun while experiencing new things. This dovetailed perfectly with our family’s mission to create lifelong memories.

As it turned out, The Color Run was even more fun than we had imagined! There must be something about being able to make an absolute mess without worrying about who or how it was going to be cleaned up that unleashed a certain madness in my wife and son. Each color station was an opportunity to laugh and party like it was 1999, and then the grand finale up on stage was a colorful pandemonium of rock concert-like enthusiasm.

We’ve never been a family to just sit around, but this weekend helped us to re-commit to our family goal of having fun together. When our 13-year-old returned from camping he immediately made us commit to running in the next Color Run as an entire family. In the mean time we’re dedicated to family fun for every moment for the rest of the year!