Alan Culpepper at the Denver Marathon Expo
There’s not too much to say about this marathon except that it is a keeper. There are not too many other places that I would consider living, but Colorado is one of them. What a great time of year to visit. We had amazing Fall colors, a relaxing run through the city and spent time with some old friends.
We took a Friday late afternoon flight from Sacramento into Denver and didn’t make it to the hotel room until close to 10 PM. Nicole and I shared a salad from Hard Rock Cafe in the hotel room while Dylan tried to fall asleep. Saturday was pretty busy with walking around downtown in the morning, watching the Kids Fun Run (awesome), and then spending the rest of the day at the expo in the Clif booth. Alan Culpepper (2:11 marathoner) was speaking at the expo so I had a chance after his talk to chat with him for a few minutes. Seems like a very cool guy.
Sunday, we were meeting at around 5:30 AM. It was dark and cold outside. Luckily, the Denver Marathon is a smaller marathon so the fastest pace team they wanted was 3:30. So I could relax a little bit and use this somewhat as a recovery run between Long Beach and Marine Corps. The course was awesome. In the first few miles, we pass Mile High Stadium, The Pepsi Center, Coors’ Field and some great sites around the downtown area. Denver has done a fantastic job with their downtown architecture. There’s a good mix of some very modern buildings with some older historic ones. I had a fun time during the marathon chatting with many of the runners. I had one woman in my group from Fort Collins and she ended up with a PR. After downtown, the course meandered through some older neighborhoods with large houses and big yards. Families were out with kids and dogs. The leaves covered the streets. What a perfect day.
I had taken our digital camera with me during the morning to video the marathon. But I had not dumped the memory card so I only captured the first part of the marathon. Maybe next time.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
After the marathon, my old college friend, Dan Christen, and his family drove down from Fort Collins and we spent the day hanging out together before catching our flight back to Sacramento. You know you have those friends that you haven’t seen in years, but when you see them you just pick right back up. Such a good feeling. 2 down and only 1 more to go.
Here’s my GPS report of the marathon: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7011033
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