Triple Play

Coors Field, Home of the Colorado Rockies

Overpasses and Underpasses

My body and brain weren’t into the run today. To make things interesting I set myself a unique challenge-link the three professional sports venues in Denver into one big circuit. I left the house and started off in the cool shade of the trees along 32nd Street. Making my way to Eliot Street I turned south, toward the home of the Denver Broncos, Invesco Field at Mile High. After passing by the gates I found myself in a tangle of streets, freeways arcing overhead and a grid of surface streets below. I picked my way through using a couple bridges and crossed the river to escape the asphalt maze. The Pepsi Center,  the home court for Denver Nuggets basketball and home ice for Colorado Avalanche hockey, lay to the east on the far side of the railroad tracks. I unlocked a path through when I discovered an overpass at the far side of a vast parking lot. I buzzed past the ticket offices and turned north, mentally working out the course to take to reach Coors Field, the final landmark for the run. Another overpass led me over Cherry Creek where cyclists and other runners were getting in their post-work exercise. The large buildings of Lower Downtown shaded my run here. As I approached the ball field, I mingled with the throng of spectators arriving for tonight’s game already underway. Clearing the crowds, I crossed one more overpass high above a web of rails and roads below, a view of all stadiums I’d visited to my left. On the far side of the overpass, the sidewalk descended to street level and curved through an underpass on 38th Street, finally nearing the end of the run. This gritty part of Denver contrasted with the polished areas around the sports arenas. Faded signs advertised auto repair shops, check cashing services, mom-and-pop lunch stands, and tattoo parlors. A few blocks further and I turned south, the final stretch on Zuni bringing me home for a hot shower and restful sleep.