Disclaimer: I received a Rock ‘n’ Roll Race entry to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
Hello all!
Well, it’s been a week since the Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver and what a week it’s been. Work is crazy, school has been hectic, and, oh yeah, I moved which means I’m sore all over. More on all that later but for now let’s journey back to a day of fun and running!
EXPO
The expo was over at the National Western Center (this is a frequent place for race expos here in Denver) and was on Friday from 1-6 and Saturday from 10-5. For those running the 5k Saturday morning, they had to pick up their bibs Friday to make sure they were ready to go!
If you’ve been to a Rock ‘n’ Roll race, then everything should look really familiar. This team is a well-oiled machine when it comes to these races, I’m interested to see how they might change now that IRONMAN owns the race series.
Let’s go!
First, stop bib pickup. Next, we grab shirts and goodie bag where I got a great Chipotle coupon that meant me and my boyfriend got 2 burritos and a bag of chips for $8 and change.
Next it was time to hit up the Brooks merchandise area. There was some REALLY CUTE tops. I ended up take this one home!
This was a close second!
So once I was through the merch area, it was on to the main expo. All the bigwigs come out to these expos. Garmin, Toyota, and everything in between was there. First, you walk through the main sponsor booths and then on to the main expo with more vendors! These are always great expos and if you forget ANYTHING, you’ll find it here!
I picked up a couple of samples and was on my way. I was ready to tackle 13.1 miles through downtown Denver!
RACE DAY
It’s race day! I had a good shake out run the previous day and was feeling ready to tackle the race. One more sleep until race day!
I woke up bright and early but was still a little late getting in the car. Whoops! I found parking pretty easily and was on my way for a BibRave Pro pre-race meetup. Look at these orange wearing runners! #orangeisthenewfast
I then dashed to drop my bag and then head back to the start – wasn’t going to miss my corral 2 start!
There was a little problem at the start since the corrals were overflowing a bit and I ended up getting released 2 min later. I was at the front and thought I was going to go immediately and my foot may have crossed the start mat before I actually started, whoops!
So with a countdown, we were off!
This race course was a really great tour of the city, we looped past the Pepsi center, around Rockies stadium, through downtown, over to City Park, and then back to the Civic Center. The miles in City Park were some of my favorites and even I was seeing things I hadn’t seen before
It was a beautiful day and I was ready to race. I was going into it thinking maybe I’d be able to pull of a new half marathon PR. I also knew the course wasn’t exactly flat and fast and I was coming off a few really intense work weeks which had left me a bit drained. In the end I didn’t quite pull it off. The added cold also got to me and around mile 10 my hips started locking up and generally felt stiff. Not great.
Along the course, water stops were frequent and well staffed. For Denver, there were a number of people out cheering on the course too which was super fun!
At the finish, you loop around the state building and run into the Civic Center area which is one of the most beautiful areas in Denver.
You then head through the finishers shoot, where I got my medal, water, Gatorade, snacks, and chocolate milk. Again great volunteers and not overcrowded.
Then it was on to the beer and music! This is the best part of any Rock ‘n’ Roll race, they always get a good band and, while it’s not the best beer, there is Michelob Ultra to drink up!
The band was jamming but it was also still really cold out so I couldn’t linger for too long. I grabbed my gear bag and thought about grabbing some food at one of the food trucks but decided it was time to head back to Boulder.
Until next time Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver!
