Death Race

I only say Death Race because the day prior to the race I thought it might actually kill me. Like an idiot, I signed up to do the Colfax Marathon relay again this year. I even signed up to do the same leg and distance, a 10K starting at City Park and ending near the intersection of Colfax and Speer. Last year the first leg stretched from City Park all the way past Invesco Field. This year they switched things up so I had to finish nearly 4 miles before I even got started heading west out of the park. The other big difference from last year is that I didn't train--unless you call training running the Lucky 7K on St. Patrick's Day, one 2.5 mile run, and one 4.5 mile run during the past two months. I think that explains why I thought I might die.

The positive part about running the race again was my sweet team, the Hydration Seeking Missiles. I ran with my friends Jen, Brent, and Ashleigh, as well as my sister Anna. Brent and I ran the 10K's, while Jen and Ash ran the 5K's. Anna was our anchor and ran an entire 12K!!

Josh also had a team, aptly named: A Tank Rolling Down a Mountain. He ran with his friends JJ, Tim, Pete, and Chris. Chris and JJ ran the two 10K's; Pete and Tim ran the 5K's, and Josh took it upon himself to finish the race with a 12K run.

On race day, everyone did great and no one died. For a little while there, I though Anna might die after her race, but she came back to life after taking a little break in the shade. I should have planned ahead and prepared a cooler of Mickey Mouse Popsicles for her. Anna + Sun + Activity = Cranky. The only cure is Mickey Mouse Popsicles. I clearly wasn't thinking. I'm sorry, Anna.

We all ran in as a team. Brent was with us, but got cut out of the picture. I'm sorry, Brent!!

On the bright-side, we did get to help ourselves to all of the free beer we could drink after the race. They also provided delightful steak tidbits on toothpicks. I was a happy camper.

J.J., Pete, and Josh in the beer garden

In addition to being happy about the post-race steak and beer, I was also excited to learn that training for races apparantely does me no good. Last year I trained for at least 8 weeks and ran the 10k in 1 hour and 4 minutes. This year I didn't really train at all and I ran my 10K in 1 hour and 3 minutes. I was actually faster. Go figure?? On-the-other-hand, training totally worked for Josh and his team. They ended up taking 5th place in the men's relay division! Way to go guys!!!!!

This photo was taken approximately 2 minutes after I crossed the finish line. Despite my appearingly pleasant demeanor, all I could think about was getting some water and possibly ripping off the baby-tee that was my race jersey. The tanks run small and I accidently shrank mine more in the wash. I almost busted through the darn thing like the incredible Hulk.

Brent looks way too good to have just ran 6.2 miles.

Anna and Ash pre-death race

Tim and Jen preparing for their 3.1 mile entirely uphill battle.

Chris, J.J. and Josh making their way through the race swag to the beer garden.

For some reason, Tim was in a tree.

We were sponsored this year by Vitalyte. They took a few photos of us after the race and there is a chance they will post them on their website. I think they would be under the "Vitalyte Victories." Check it out over the next few weeks.

What's in a Name

I was literally flipping through channels a few minutes ago during the half time of the Nuggets game and heard the funniest, legitimate, name ever! I believe we stopped on a show called "Painted Babies at 17." Lame. I know. I was just wasting time between Nuggets vs. Lakers action. The show is about former baby/kid pageant competitors and where they are now. One of the girls they were documenting won 150 pageants before the age of 7?!??! The adult who coordinated the pageant madness, her grandmother, Bunny Breedwell. Yes, Bunny Breedwell. I'm not lying, it was printed on the screen. I had to share. Bunny Breedwell.

I Look Like I am Amish

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my friend Susie's bridal shower and bachelorette party. The bridal shower was pretty mellow as those age-old rituals typically are, however, the theme was awesome and resulted in many cool presents: nostalgia. The hint on the invitations went something like, "imagine what kind of gifts June Cleaver, Claire Huxtable, etc would have been pleased to receive during their bridal showers." This, of course, confused me more than anything else and I scrambled to find something suitable for a shower of this nature. I ended up giving her a casserole oven-mit, measuring cups, stationary, romance coupons, and a glass pear. I suck. I'm not even sure what the glass pear was supposed to be used for; it appeared to be some kind of container. I made sure to give her the receipts. On the bright side, the rest of her gifts were very cool. One lady shopped her own basement in order to gift her actual wedding gifts she received back in the day. A good time was had by all. As a parting gift we each got to select a vintage apron from a clothes line hung on a wall. I got to pick second from last so mine was a bit--well let's say old fashioned. You'll see what I mean later.

View from our hotel room, note the lovely sheer apron.

Since the bride had aprons on her mind and all of the ladies attending the bachelorette party now had one in their possession, she decided that everyone should wear their vintage aprons during the night's festivities. Three of the four of us had very cute sheer aprons. I guess ladies used to wear the sheer styles for holidays and special occasions. I was the odd one out as my apron was most likely worn by someone in the Amish community. Maybe a Puritan.

Our plan was to start the night at Elitch Lanes, roll a game or two, bar hop, grab a late night bite at Pete's Kitchen, and head back to the hotel. Elitch Lanes turned out to be a blast and we ended up missing the entire bar hopping section of the plan. We had bowling pin beers, danced our pants off, got free drinks from an old man named Curtis, polished our balls, moonwalked, and knocked down a pin or two. You can check out all of the pictures and an awesome dance video featuring Susie by clicking on the "Our Photo Gallery" link on the right.

Curtis (the old man) tied these balloons to Susie, I have no idea where he found them.

Nicole cooling off with the finger dryer. Very sexy. This photo may earn her a spread in the Babes who Bowl 2010 Calendar. Miss May?

Me shinin' my ball and trying to impersonate an Amish woman's first night out on the town after leaving the farm. Looks like pure ecstasy, right?