“Yeah, we did not think this through,” said race coordinator Marty Pranson as he watched hundreds of joggers jubilantly throw packets of colored powder in the air, many of them unaware that they were participating in a race set up to pay the thousands of dollars of hospital debt that has plagued Carlson’s family since his untimely death. “Definitely misread the vibe on this one.”

“I’m big enough to admit that we should have chosen a different theme,” Pranson said, acknowledging that the race should have provided participants with T-shirts honoring Carlson’s memory rather than copious amounts of florescent dye that they were encouraged to joyfully dump over themselves as they traversed the five-kilometer course. “If I could go back in time, there’s no way I would have gone the color run route with this.”

At press time, Pranson was reconsidering the Mud Run he was organizing for an upcoming memorial 10k.