Running in the red is of course not normal. Is the fan shroud intact and in place? An engine overheating at idle or low speeds often indicate the fan isn't pulling enough air through the radiator. That can be cause by several things... mud/dirt packed into the radiator cooling fins which can be flushed out with a garden hose. Or a bad fan thermostatic clutch. If the temp gauge suddenly shot into the red, you could have a bad thermostat too. If you install a new thermostat make sure 1) it has the proper 195 degree temperature rating, and 2) that it is a standard thermostat and NOT a "fail-safe" thermostat. Failsafe thermostats like to fail prematurely in the open position so the engine won't warm up properly. A very good thermostat choice would be a 195 degree Stant SuperStat which many autoparts store like NAPA and even Amazon.com carry.
And if coolant dumped out of the radiator without going into the coolant reservoir, I'd suspect either the radiator cap is bad or it wasn't screwed down all the way. If it's bad, replace it with one with the correct 18 lb. pressure rating.