#DreamBig : 13.1 in all 50 states : DreamBig 2013

STATE #19 - Denver, Colorado
Rock N Roll Denver
Finishers: 13,865

October 18, 2013
Cooper flew in from San Francisco and I flew in from Atlanta and we met at the Denver Airport where Vanessa, one of my good friends from my 2012 New York client, picked us up. It was still mid afternoon so she drove us up to Boulder while we eavesdropped on her recruiting conference calls. Since we didn't have much time in Colorado, Vanessa decided to take us on a scenic drive up to Nederland, CO. No matter how many times I got to Colorado, I will never get sick of the views along all of the windy passageways. When we got to Nederland, we stopped at a cool little coffee/candy shop called Train Cars Coffee that was built out of a bunch of boxcars. We grabbed ourselves some hot drinks to combat the fierce wind outside and then sat around for a few minutes before making our way back to Boulder. On the way back, we decided to stop and take some pictures because if it's not on social media it didn't happen.

So angelic - we know

After our photo shoot, we drove back towards Boulder making another stop at the Flat Irons where we could have hiked but...those boots weren't made for walking. So we returned home to Boulder to meet Justin, Vanessa's boyfriend (UPDATE Fiance) at their apartment. We chilled for a bit and caught up until we decided where we wanted to go for dinner. Boulder is super cool and has this little stretch through downtown with a bunch of little stores and restaurants along a pedestrian walkway. We settled on West End and has a bit of a wait so we grabbed some drinks and stood around lurking over people's shoulders so they would get the hint to finish up their dinner and scram. Vanessa is a severe lightweight - I'm talking like a few sips of a mixed drink light weight (ugh - so many stories, so little time) so by the time we got seated she was chatting up a storm - as always.

Flat Irons

Just cooling off a little...

We had our dinner and then wandered around for a little longer in the cold just to see what was popping but eventually made our way back to the apartment where Vanessa and Justin has graciously volunteered to host us for the night - SLUMBER PARTY!

October 19, 2013
Vanessa and I have one very large thing in common and that is a love for food. So of course, soon after waking up Vanessa had a brunch place picked out for the four of us nearby called Tangerine. It was bright colors and had awesome food of course. After brunch, Vanessa drove us to downtown Denver so we could go to the race expo and pick up our packets. Something seemed a little off about downtown and we soon realized there was some sort of zombie walk going on and people were out dressed up in full force -- or so we HOPE they weren't real!

Big Blue Bear outside of the conference center downtown

After grabbing our packets, Vanessa dropped us off at the Sheraton where we were staying for the night so we could be closer to the race start. The Auburn. v. Texas A&M game was on so we obviously didn't make any other plans other than sit on our booties and watch TV the rest of the afternoon. I mean...the city was under zombie attack anyways. The front desk sent up a gift at one point (aka "Thank you for living at our hotels in 2012") which was a little thing of chocolate. The Auburn game wasn't going so well - Texas A&M was ranked #7 and we trailed most of the game but somehow pulled out a 45-41 win. Also...at some point I got really excited and threw my little chocolate container in the air and they spilled everywhere.

RIP Chocolates...even though I ate some off the floor

After the game we took our chances and went across the street to grab some pasta from Noodles & Co. and then we took a serious risk and went all the way down the street through the zombies to Walgreens to pick up water and breakfast food. Have y'all ever seen a zombie event? People have like weapons and some people have red "X"s on them and then other people refuse to break character and get all up in your face. I don't do scary stuff so this was horrible. At least there was a pretty sunset though?

Honestly...I don't know if this is the sunrise or sunset....

We prepped all of our morning stuff and got to bed early and ready to run! (Zombieless)

October 20, 2013
The race started fairly close to the hotel so we were able to walk in the morning after eating our Walgreens breakfast. We had already decided pre-race that neither one of us was used to or ready for the altitude so we were just going to take it slow and enjoy the city. It was actually warmer than I expected it to be - but still really cold.

The first two miles of the race were rough - Cooper and I were both sucking air. How do people live at a mile up!? It was kinda cool because if I remember correctly, the race took us out to where the Denver Nuggets play and then over to the Colorado Rockies ballpark (Cooper now lives in Denver so he can probably correct me on this).

The course took us down through downtown and then out to the zoo. Most of the rest of the race was either winding through the zoo and city park or on an out and back stretch that I actually really liked. A lot of people don't like the out and back but for me it's like a solid 2 miles of people watching. When you go one way you're like "dang - look at all those fast people" and then when you are going the other way you're like "dang - look how fast I am compared to all those slow people". Whatever keeps your mind busy, ya know? I also remember at like Mile 8 I was singing to the people around me - or maybe I was just singing louder than necessary and they were in earshot. Same thing.

The last 2-3 miles took us down to Cheeseman Park which was BIG hilly loop where you could see where it started and sort of where it ended but all you could really see were the hills. Hills and altitude are so difficult. We hadn't been killing ourselves so we were able to use what was left in our legs to power through. I had heard the last mile of the course was downhill and that did hold true. The only issue was this was pretty much one of the few downhills on the course. As we started descending, my calves started cramping up and Coopers blisters on his feet started tearing due to the unfamiliar movement.

We both tried to sprint in to the finish but were struck by last minute pain and just limped across the finish line. It was still a little chilly so we found a big building to block the wind and stretch and eat our goodies We walked back to the hotel and changed so we could get over to brunch before the masses.