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Thursday, July 10, 2014

Trip Report: Leadville Part 1

I hadn't even heard of the town of Leadville, Colorado until I read the book Born to Run. That was back in 2009. The parts in the book about the Leadville 100 were easily my favorite and I vowed to visit Leadville one day and hopefully even go and spectate/volunteer/crew at the race. 

Enter The KoB... without getting into a whole... "this is the story of how we met, etc...," he was the only person I actually knew who had ran the race (Actually, he still might be. haha). I can remember being at a party at Coach Bitch and Cheryl's house in September (of 2010, I think?) and The KoB was there (having just ran the race in August) and I pretty much spent the entire party asking him questions (and getting one word responses back) and taking tequila shots.

So, here's the deal. The KoB has finished the Leadville 100 three times. 3 TIMES!!!!!!!

Yes, folks... that is a sub 24 hour finish.

He's ran the race 4 times and spent some summers out there training for the race. Leadville is The KoB's happy place. He loves it there and when he would talk about it, it just made me want to go there even more. So... we booked tickets and a room at a Bed and Breakfast and went out there over the July 4th weekend.

The first sign it was going to be an awesome trip? Because we had a long layover, we got offered to take a different flight from Nashville and got put into first class and each got a $200 travel voucher. FIRST CLASS, bitches! To be completely honest... it wasn't that great. I would never pay to be in first class and I was especially bummed that they didn't have Baileys for my coffee. THE HUMANITY! What kind of First Class doesn't have Baileys????????

Moving on... we arrived in Denver and got on the shuttle for our rental car. Then we had a Seinfeld moment. THEY DIDN'T HAVE A CAR AVAILABLE FOR US. 

Anybody can just take a reservation.
  
They even had the gall to tell us that... "well, it's a busy, holiday weekend." NO SHIT POTHEAD, that's why we made a reservation. Anyway.... someone dropped a car off as I fumed in the corner and we were on our way after not too long of a wait. 
I've never been to Colorado, so the whole drive I was like... OMG look over there. And OMG... look over THERE. And I think I asked The KoB if every mountain we saw was a 14er. 

Nope. Not a 14er.

Along the way, I was also regaled with stories of when The KoB biked across Colorado. (Yes, I know, he's the one that should have the blog, nobody gives a shit about me or my gifs). It was a nice drive, but I was happy when we finally arrived in Leadville.

We changed into running clothes and headed out for a little Leadville Running Tour led by The KoB. 
It was July 4th, so stopping for this picture
seemed apropos. 'Merica.

I knew it was going to feel tough. Running at 10,000+ feet is  no joke. But, we stopped to take pictures and kept the pace easy.

My, "Hey, take this picture of me
so I can catch my breath" pose.

Everywhere you look... beauty.

After the run, the skies cleared and we walked into town for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant that I had heard The KoB talk about many times.
Heading into town.

It was the perfect start to our trip. 

When in Colorado...

Next up: Seeing parts of the Leadville 100 Course and more running...

4 comments:

Carina said...

Sooo cool! I've only been to CO a couple times, but loved it. But yeah, that rental car thing would have made me lose my $hit if it happened on the wrong day.

Gracie said...

So this KoB guy is kind of a big deal, I gather?! Impressed! And CO looks lovely - I haven't been.

Amy said...

Carina: Yeah, I kinda showed my ass to the rental car people, while The KoB looked on in horror. To be fair, I wasn't super pissed about it, until the workers clearly gave no fucks about the situation whatsoever. I blame the pot legalization. They were stoned. Out of their minds.

Gracie: He is the most dedicated, hard working runner I know. Yeah... my impression after this first trip is that Colorado might be the one cold place in the US that I could survive the winters just because it's so freaking beautiful.

Carina said...

Lol