Jamie

It was Valentine's Day when I received a random text from my friend Jamie's husband, Ben. He text me asking me if Jamie could come see me in Colorado in May for the 5K Color Run. I was ecstatic! In fact, I was so excited I forgot the fact that it was Valentine's Day and that Ben was probably doing this as a Valentine's Day present for Jamie. I text Jamie immediately saying how sweet Ben was to let her come see me and how excited I was. Jamie had no idea what I was talking about, and that was when I realized I probably shouldn't have said anything to her. We laughed really hard about it, and Jamie had to put on a poker face so that Ben wouldn't know that I completely blew the surprise. Jamie didn't have to pretend for too long, thank goodness.
The Color Run is the funnest 5K ever! This was going to be the first race I had ever participated in. I was excited for this to be my first race because there is absolutely no pressure to be fast, let alone run the whole time. The Color Run is done in many major cities and is meant for young, old, the fast, the slow, and is all about having fun. I figured this would be the best way for me to be introduced to races and running in crowds. I just knew Jamie and I would have SO much fun doing the Color Run together.

Jamie flew down Thursday, the 24th. I made arrangements for Jamie and me to stay in Denver for two nights. When she flew in we went and got our favorite, Costa Vida, and then when back to our hotel, got in the hot tub, and stayed up talking 'til 4:00 am. I'm sure we could have talked longer, but we knew that we would need some sleep to sustain us while doing one of our most favorite things... shopping! We had a whole day planned out just to shop. We had so much fun and found lots of good deals, but were definitely worn out by the end. I'm sure our lack of sleep played a big part in being worn out :). We went to Carrabba's (Italian Restaurant) and loaded up on carbs for the Color Run the next morning.

We got back to the Hotel around 8:30 pm, when almost immediately I realized I had forgotten to bring my running shoes. I needed new running shoes anyway, but we only had a half hour to get to a store before they all closed. We did valet parking so we went down to the lobby to ask them to get our car for us. We waited about 10 minutes before they came out and told us that one of the drivers had taken my keys with him on his way to drop some people off at a restaurant. Luckily, there was a taxi out in front of the hotel, so the hotel paid for us to take a taxi to the shoe store. The first store was closed, so we had to rush over to another one. We were scared we wouldn't make it in time and that I'd have to wear flip flops for the Color Run. We were able to make it in time and I had about 10-15 minutes to find a pair of running shoes that I liked. Everything worked out and I got my shoes. Jamie and I were still frustrated about my car keys and almost not being able to get the shoes. Thanks to Jake, the friendly hotel worker, we were able to get free dessert from what happened, which Jamie and I were happy about :).

All nice and clean before the race

Jamie and I were very tired and went to bed a lot earlier than the night before. The Color Run was at 9:00 am the next morning (the 27th). We got to the Denver City Park about 8:45 and saw thousands of people. I'm not sure how many were there but it was a sold out event and it was PACKED! Jamie and I looked so nice and clean before running. While waiting in the crowds for the race to begin, people started pulling out their color packets (they came in red, pink, orange, yellow, green, teal, and purple) and started throwing the packets in the air so that the color would splash all over people. We didn't stay clean for very long. There were two girls by us who were getting everyone and they laughed and laughed and thought they were so funny. They were pretty funny, but they didn't have much color on themselves. So, I decided they needed a little color and I shook my purple color on them. They were shocked, but laughed. Once we finally started running we were already pretty colorful. There were five different places we passed while running where spectaters were waiting for us to pass and smothered us with even more color. Many people walked the 5K so the majority of the time Jamie and I were dodging people as we ran. We ran the whole time and at a good pace. At the end as we were coming up on the finish line Jamie said, "Let's book it!" We took off and finished the race strong. It was a lot of fun and we gave everyone on the side lines five as we passed them. I had officially completed my first race. This race wasn't timed, and Jamie and I completely forgot to time it ourselves. We did pretty good though and kept a good pace.

After the race there was a lot of music and lots of people still had their color packets. Jamie and I got in the middle of the mosh pit and danced. All at once, they had everyone throw their color packets in the air. It was pretty! There were color clouds all around us. It didn't last for very long though. As the color clouds disappeared we found ourselves suffocating and trying to hide our faces. We inhaled so much of the powdery color and got out of the mosh pit real quick. After the mosh pit, we had people take some pictures for us and then we took off back to Colorado Springs.

Plastered in color

Notice the color on my teeth haha

Jamie and I getting pictures of each other

Maybe you can picture now how much color Jamie and I must have inhaled!

Jamie and I cleaned up and we both decided we needed a picture of ourselves all nice and clean. We had no one to take it for us... so we took it ourselves! After taking the picture we decided we needed some fun pictures too, so we decided to be goofy and take some silly ones. I just love having a friend who likes to be goofy like me and who I can be my complete self with!

All cleaned up :)

Being silly :)

So glad I have a friend to be crazy with!

Not quite as good as Elvis

I showed Jamie Fort Carson after we had gotten all ready, and we went to an authentic Mexican restaurant for dinner. After dinner we went and saw the movie, "What to Expect When You're Expecting." It was entertaining and we had a good time.

We stayed up that night til 1:30 am girl talking and eating lots of treats. We had already eaten most of the Dove chocolates and decided we would wait to eat the rest the next day. We said that at 11:40 pm, and once it hit midnight we decided we would just eat the rest. Typical girls, right?!

We went to church early the next morning and relaxed the rest of the day before I had to take Jamie to the airport. Time went so fast, but we had such a blast! Jamie has three sweet little ones that I knew missed and needed her, so that made it a little easier to let her go. I'm already trying to figure out another get together.

I am so grateful for Jamie! I couldn't ask for a better friend. She is just so wonderful. She is so sincere, compassionate, fun, funny, beautiful, such a good mom, and overall such a good person. She makes me want to be a better person and that's one of the things I love most about her. Thanks for coming to see me Jamie and for not making fun of me too much while hitting those high notes while playing Rock Band :). Thanks for coming to see me Jamie!

Real quick... sometimes Abe thinks that Jamie is my VERY best friend. While she is one of my very best friends, I want Abe to know that HE is my very best friend. Just thought I'd clarify before Abe gives me too hard of a time :). I am grateful for all the wonderful friends I have in my life! :)