guest post! anything once: dressing up like a gorilla to run through the streets of denver

Today's guest post comes from Miss Kim, one of my sister's BFFs, and now a friend of mine! We share a similar sense of humor, love of bad reality TV The Bachelor, and she let me borrow her sister's dress for my sister's wedding (clearly that equals lifelong friendship). She was mostly inspired by this very random activity, but in part she wanted to help me achieve my goals. So she's a friend and an enabler. Miss Kim, you're the BEST. Take it away!

See if you can follow this story.

I have this friend Hannah…

Who is married to a handsome man named Nick…

One of Nick’s cousins passed away a year and a half ago…

Nick’s cousin loved gorillas…

For the second year, Nick’s family has run this race in Denver called The Gorilla Run in memory of his cousin…

Nick is currently living in Washington DC for an internship…

Nick had planned on coming home for said race but did not…

Hannah needed someone to take Nick’s place…

Enter me.

When my friend Hannah asked me if I wanted to participate, I wasn’t too sure.  I had heard about the Gorilla Run before, and I knew you had to run the entire race wearing a gorilla suit.  I mean, I like to run, but I wasn’t sure about the whole gorilla thing.  Turns out, it was way fun.  Who knew dressing up in a gorilla suit with 1,300 other people could be so entertaining?  (Also, in all honesty, we didn’t run. We walked. And despite the fact that it was cold that morning, it got hot in those gorilla suits! I admire the folks who did run.)

Here's me pre-race, channeling my inner gorilla. It's hard to tell, but I'm wearing the suit sans head.

Here we are in full on gorilla suits.  You can’t even tell we’re people can you? Can you?

We didn’t want to get too intense, so we took some human photos, too.

Here’s all the gorillas ready to run the race. You may be asking yourself what they’re chasing.

Oh that’s right, there are others dressed as bananas (dogs, small children, adults on bicycles… the possibilities were endless).  

Oh yeah, and no one just dresses like gorillas.  They wear costumes over their costumes.  

It was so sweet to take part in an event that was so special to Hannah and Nick’s family.  I did my best to channel my inner Nick, but I could never replace him.

And in case you’re wondering, the Gorilla Run is a fundraiser for The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund.  You can read more about it here. 

All in all, this is a first I’d be willing to repeat.