Seventy

April 3, 2014
8.42 Miles in 1:19:56
Mood: Bewildered and Amused
Soundtrack: The Mediocre Show

So much snow. However, it was the spring snow variety. It fell all morning in great honking heaps, and I figured that I would likely be shut out of running for the day. The thing about spring snow however is that once the sun peaks out from behind the cloud cover it is disappears as quickly as Colorado Rockies fan hopes for a good season...that is to say it vanishes exceptionally fast. By the time I arrived at home, the sun had, in fact, come out and the major streets were almost entirely dry. This is what makes spring snow much more tolerable than it's winter cousin...it goes away in time to let me run.

I left in an expectant mood. I believed that this run was meant to be and something amazing was going to happen on this run. Less than two minutes in, I share a wave with my oldest and best friend Doug, who was driving by in his minivan...and could have potentially killed me with his vehicle as I ran out into an intersection just ahead of him pulling through it. Thankfully he was paying close enough attention that I survived the opening minutes of this outing. Still alive, and believing all these good omens belied something wonderful, I was off.

Let me say, this was a pretty incredible run when it comes to discoveries. In addition to seeing my best friend, I also came across a beautiful old Chevy truck in root beer brown...it was tremendous. Then I discovered what I believe to be the home of Rocky the Mountain Lion. Rocky, for those who are unaware, is one of the greatest mascots in professional sports. He is the mascot for the Denver Nuggets, and at many times in Denver basketball history he was easily the best thing about attending a Nuggets game. My hint that it might be his house is that there was a gigantic van in the driveway which was plastered all over with Denver Nuggets and Rocky the Mountain Lion logos. Pretty much seemed like it must be Rocky's van, or else someone has an unhealthy and rather weird obsession. Although, if I'm Rocky, I don't think I take the company car home. I don't know if I want people knowing where I live. Still, there was the van, and even weirder, a slender female mannequin sitting on a bench right next to the front door.

Yep, you read that right, I believe that this creepy photo that I took yesterday is of the front door of Rocky the Mountain Lion, and I find it slightly disturbing to believe that a man who makes his living dressed in a fuzzy costume also has a mannequin on his front porch. This disturbs me, because I've generally considered myself a huge fan of Rocky over the years, although, if this is indeed his house, I'd still consider myself a fan, but my faith is slightly shaken.

As if finding a glorious truck and the likely home of Denver's most beloved mascot weren't enough, I then found a home with an enormous lighthouse in it's front yard. I can't even begin to understand what is going on there. This lighthouse must be at least eight feet tall. I love the neighborhoods I run in. They are gloriously, unashamedly and unabashedly weird. Trying to pick a photo from this run was far too difficult, there is no way to capture all the weirdness of this run in just one picture, but thems the rules. (Self imposed rules yes, but I'm sticking with them.)

Oh, and I didn't even mention the homemade mannequin with a moose head sitting in front of a house adorned with roughly twenty different birdhouses. So much weirdness, so little time to describe it all.