Sooooo … last weekend started with this view.
By capitalizing on a money credit with Frontier that was obtained through one of life’s more negative events, I was able to book a flight to Colorado and drop in for Nick’s 31st birthday bash in Pine.
First order of business: catch the first flight out of KC to Denver.
From there, I grabbed my rental car and headed to Denver where I met two of my old college roommates and their female counterparts for breakfast at the Jelly Cafe.
Then, it was time to run.
Running at Red Rocks Amphitheatre has been a bucket list item of mine for a few years, and thanks to a little inspiration from Katie I decided to make that happen.
It’s pretty impressive to see how many people pack Red Rocks to exercise. There are various classes going on, group workouts, and solo people training for a wide variety of events.
This guy was being a total BOSS.
My plan was to zig-zag up every row of seating inside, and then head out of the amphitheatre and run the surrounding trails, many of them still snow-packed.
Upon making my way inside Red Rocks, I noticed a guy dressed in a penguin costume, as well as various other folks dressed as Gumby, the Super Mario Brothers, etc. It turned out a “Harlem Shake” had been organized to take place at Red Rocks right during the middle of my run.
So what the heck? I could use a rest break.
I logged six solid miles on my run, including finishing on the main stage back inside Red Rocks.
From there, it was off to Nick and Laurie’s for his birthday. It was great to catch up with a few of the other Colorado runners I haven’t seen in a while, as well as to meet some that I’ve been in touch with for about a year but hadn’t met in person.
We also got to investigate a product produced by one of the stars on one of our favorite TV shows.
As is the case with any trip to Colorado, there’s never enough time. I only had 36 hours. Saturday was packed with activities, while Sunday was spent finishing the draft of an article for a running magazine that should be published in the next month or so.
Soon, it was time to head home.
The sun had already gone down by the time my plane departed Denver, so I couldn’t see the mountains as we rose into the sky and headed back to KC. That was OK, though, because I’ll be back … hopefully sooner than later.
Chris Wristen 