Amazing races: Find the perfect-themed 5K for you

So you head out for a race early on a Saturday morning with hundreds of other runners, line up with your expected minute-per-mile group (cheating only a bit), finish the 5K with a time that makes you happy, grab a banana, chat it up with other runners for a little while — and go home.

Wait, what?

You’re not colorfully covered in powdered dye? You’re not taking a selfie in your crazy costume? Nobody downed Twinkies or hot dogs along the way? And you left before the dance party?

Nowadays, a plain old footrace is sounding a little blah.

“I was wicked proud of myself,” says the multi-colored Jennifer Crooks of Greenwood after the recent Run or Dye 5K in the West Bottoms. “I ran more of it than I thought I could.”

Crooks and friend Sara Mayes of Grain Valley loved getting doused with a dye rainbow — they were first-timers in that regard.

Mayes has been running about a year, and she’s getting ready for her first 10K race, 6.2 miles, in May. Crooks was a newbie 5k-er. She really liked how it felt to complete the 3.1-mile event, even if she walked some of it. She definitely wants to exercise more and eat better.

“Today is a catalyst,” she proclaims.

In the universe of themed races, color is big. Color Foam is coming up in May, and so is the Color Run, the daddy of all painted races, which started way back in 2012. But it’s not only about color.

On the way: Semi-grueling obstacle races Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder. And nighttime races with glow sticks and, actually, glow everything. And races that honor mothers, fathers and zombies.

Yes, drive up to Lincoln, Neb., this July for the chance to be chased 5 kilometers over natural and manmade obstacles by 200 “zombies.”

What’s a running purist to do?

“There’s a part of me,” says running coach Eladio Valdez about the wacky races, “that says, Really? You need to be jumping through hoops to get motivated?”

But Valdez of the Runner’s Edge program is OK with the new normal, and he even sees some benefits.

“It’s ‘exertainment,’ 

” Valdez says, “exercise and entertainment. If it gets new people and novice runners out, ultimately it’s a good thing.”

He has quizzed newer clients about the rise of themed events, and many are thrilled: “It’s just more fun to run now,” they say.

Even for those who sign up for a race with no notion of starting a running routine, the experience can be part wake-up call, part inspiration. More than a few notice they really can’t jog three miles, and they wonder what that would be like.

They realize it’s not a video game, Valdez says. It’s real.

Certainly the Caliente Bare Dare at a clothing-optional resort near Tampa, Fla., is real. While you’re not

to run in the nude, more than 80 percent do.

And the hoopla doesn’t shorten the course, says Steve Blew of KC Running Co., which manages a series of themed 5K events. The new or curious runner is a target of the races, plus families and kids. “We see a lot of people running their first 5K.”

And while some people will complete the 5K in an unhurried walk, the KC Running Company events are timed races that also attract the speedy, Blew says. In the recent Diva Dash, a 5K for women only, the winner finished in under 18 minutes.

“I would call myself a purist, but we’ve found a way to incorporate everybody,” he says.

Plus, he says, with sometimes four or five 5K events every weekend during the warmer months, the themed races are a way to stand out. If the petting zoo and pony rides get folks to the Boots ’n Daisy Dukes 5K on June 1, what’s wrong with that?

And some of these are gaining legend status.

Like the Krispie Kreme Challenge in Raleigh, N.C., where runners eat a dozen doughnuts at the race’s mid-point. Prefer Twinkies while running? There’s the Twinkie Run in Ann Arbor, Mich. At the New York Hot Dog Challenge, runners are required to eat 10 dogs, including buns. This does not go well for many a runner, as you can imagine.

For more 2014 events, including those sans themes, the KC Running Co. keeps a list of races on its website:

www.kcrunningcompany.com

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This 3.1-mile obstacle course everything: mud pits, barbed wire, trenches, fire, sheer walls, chains and more. Swag includes a Viking-style warrior helmet and one beer.

3325 Circle S Ranch Lane, Lawrence. $65 and up;

warriordash.com

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Besides the horrifying obstacles, you get the ominous slogans, such as “Your fears aren’t going anywhere until you face them.” Maybe you fear the “electroshocks”? You probably should; 22 percent don’t complete the course.

Heartland Park Topeka raceway, 7530 S.W. Topeka Blvd., Topeka. $175;

toughmudder.com

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We do love our colors. This untimed 5K event sports “color cannons” and a foam wall so that, if you wear white, it will look like you “rode a unicorn through a rainbow and fought off elves with a paintball gun,” organizers say. Sort of irresistible when you put it that way.

Grounds of Kemper Arena, 1800 Genessee St. $46;

colorfoam5k.com

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This is Mother’s Day weekend, and the 5K event (There’s also a 1-mile walk) is all about saying thanks and honoring moms. “They are the wind in our sails and our calm port in the storm,” organizers say.

51st and Main streets. $30 and up;

runmomrun.net

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You may have heard: This is the “Happiest 5K on the planet.” Runners get suffused with powdered colors along the way, so that at the end they become a tie-dye painting. There’s a pre-party and a finish festival, with music and more “color throws.”

Truman Sports Complex. $35 and up;

thecolorrun.com

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We sort of wish this country-themed 5K had a boots and daisy dukes dress code, but no. That said, there are no rules against it, either. Youngsters get the Lil’ Critter Fun Run, petting zoo and pony rides.

Bass Pro Shops, 18001 Bass Pro Drive, Independence. $27 and up;

bootsndaisydukes5k.com

This is a 5K nighttime event, and you’ll want to bust open the provided glow pack with various glow-y things to attach to yourself. There are blacklight zones and a finish line chute that glows, plus lots of music and after-party, which is all about dancing while glowing.

Arrowhead Stadium. $32 and up;

glowrun5K.com

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A 5K run that celebrates dads and affords this awesome opportunity: You get to run triumphantly into Sporting Park to cross the finish line.

Sporting Park, 1 Sporting Way, Kansas City, Kan. $31 and up;

sportkc.org

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The Hawaii theme sounds awful fun — organizers say “aloha” means everyone is welcome! Well, everyone who’s ready to swim 400 meters, bike 10 miles

run, which requires more training than a regular old 5K, of course.

Or give the “quintathlon” a shot. That’s right: 800-meter swim, 17-mile bike course, 5K run, 10-mile bike course and a 2K run. Get through all that, you definitely want to hang for the South Pacific-style after-party. Pass the shaved ice!

Longview Lake, 11101 Raytown Road. $65 and up;

alohatriseries.com

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Have you set a personal record dressed like Spider-Man? This 5K, five days before Halloween, might be the place. Trick or treating and costume awards.

City Market. $20; kcmonsterdash.com.

This story was originally published April 18, 2014 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Amazing races: Find the perfect-themed 5K for you."