Skirt Sports 13er Louisville CO
Weekend Trip I made the trip up to the Denver area this past weekend for a number of reasons. First was to garage/estate sale and shop. You know, you must visit The Container Store when you go to Denver! As you know I sell items on ebay and I thought it would be fun to garage sale in a different city. Of course I thought I would throw in a race while I was on the road and I was sure Denver had to have one the weekend I planned on being there. When I started researching a few weeks ago I had hoped to find one that would be on Sunday as not to interfere with Saturday morning treasure hunting. Low and behold I found the Skirt Sports 13er event on the 14th. I had heard of Skirt Sports before from the blog of The Girl Who Runs Everywhere and looked over their site. Now I must say after I found their event I wasn’t sure if it was a women’s only run so I checked last years result and sure enough there were men who participated. So naturally I signed up and eagerly anticipated the race!
My 5k race attire
Garage Sales Well we (my wife and I) arrived Thursday afternoon to a very cloudy north Denver. Friday morning is usually the best morning for garage sales so that looked in jeorpardy. However, I had found a collection of items on Craigslist prior to travelling to Denver that I had agreed to purchase. So as planned we drove to the Cherry Hills neighborhood to pick up said items. The guy who sold me the items asked why I was in town and told him I was running a 5k and turns out he was a Triathlete. So we had nice chat about triathlons and running. Great time. Of course Friday morning brought tons of rain and NO garage sales. So I looked up estate sales and found a couple close to our hotel.
1980 Van Halen Concert Necklace
My estate sale visit was a huge success thanks to the item pictured above. While the VH necklace may look ragged and old it is quite sought after. I found this one framed with an old concert ticket and button for $15. Amazing. That in itself made the trip worthwhile. I was able to garage sale on Saturday Morning and find some items both for my home (including a nice corner cabinet for $5) and to resell. It was a great weekend along these lines.
Skirt Sports Friday we headed to Boulder to pick up my race packet at the headquarters of Skirt Sports. Boulder is such a beautiful town! There were quite a few people at packet pick up and a very helpful staff giving directions. Now I must have looked somewhat out of place being the only male there at the time but the ladies at packet pickup were extremely welcoming. Everyone was so helpful and it was well-organized. I used my gift certificate to purchase a couple of running shirts for my 18 yr old daughter. The headquarters was very nice and inviting……it had a feel of a great place of employment. I love small businesses. I want to purchase my running gear from mainly small businesses. I did purchase a Nike hat and shorts when I first started running but since vowed not to support such large companies. So it was nice to feel welcomed and feel the vibe of such a cool company.
Sunday’s Race and Atmosphere After I registered for the race a couple of weeks prior I had read about the company via their website. I understood that there was more to this race than just running. So Sunday’s race showed me what this company was about. It was a perfect morning for running. There were lots of booths’ set up with a local feel. Prior to the start of the 5k (my event) they made an announcement about a group of ladies who were in white shirts running in the first race. They had what they called “Personal Motivators” with them and it was so cool that they recognized these ladies. I don’t know each of their stories but I do know not everyone can run even a 5k. I know the hard work that people put into them. I must say I am lucky cause running comes easy to me. That is not to say I don’t work hard but I know there are those who work harder than I do cause they had that desire to run and all that running gives us. So for Skirt Sports to help these ladies and recognize them at the start was so extremely cool. Watching them at the finish line hug their personal motivator was very gratifying to watch. Also I must mention that the owner Nicole gave each a hug as they crossed the finish line. How cool. Another thing that impressed me about the event was that was announcer knew most of the runners. I remember around the 30 minute mark a gentleman was approaching and the lady said here comes blank (the name escapes me) his son won the race again this year. Sounds odd to some but I thought this was real neat that they knew so many people.
Running Shirts I purchased for my daughter.
My Race The 5k course was an out and back run with a nice slow but steady incline about in the middle. I started off at a good 7 minute pace but once that incline started I knew I wouldn’t PR. But I have worked hard with the hills here so I churned up that inclined both direction and finished with a respectable 23:44 about a 7:36 pace. I will take that any day. My race weight was 159.6 lbs…..slowly going down! It makes me understand I have a way to go to improve and motivates me to get out each day and train hard regardless of how I feel.
The Container Store, Flat Irons Mall
Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend. I love the Denver area. Oh I forgot to mention I went into Estes Park which is amazingly beautiful. A must visit if you are in the area. If not for just the drive alone. I am so impressed with Skirt Sports as a company and what they stand for. It was nice to be part of not just a race but an atmosphere. I thank all the ladies of Skirt Sports who made this possible. I know it must be a lot of work to put on such a weekend event as I know there were many other ancillary events that took place outside of Sunday. If you are a fan of small businesses and or running in skirts you should consider this event or purchasing from them.
Till we meet again. Good Day
Ron
Package from Janji
MY Janji Running Shirt
Shoo Runs! 