Welcome to Colorado, Chris Mocko! The Stanford alum recently relocated from the Bay Area to Boulder, and has already won two trail races here. He is this month’s “The Runner Box” Colorado runner of the month. See what the carefree ultrarunner has to stay about the Centennial State, so far.
Chris, welcome to Colorado! I didn’t know you’d arrived until I saw your name atop the results of the recent Castle Rock Trail Festival 50k. You went to Stanford, previously worked in Silicon Valley, and most recently was a full-time ultrarunner in the Bay Area. Now, you’re living in Boulder and working for twitter. How’d this all come to be?
The short of it–I loved the trail accessibility that Marin offered, but it was a bit lacking in job opportunities (I didn’t want to deal with the commute to San Francisco!) and social happenings (again, heading back into SF is easier said than done). I grew quite a bit closer to my roommates (who also have been part of my Western States crew for the past two years) and their dog, but when I took a break from running following States I suddenly found myself with a lot of free time and not a lot going on. Boulder seemed like a perfect environment for blending great trails and conveniently-located jobs, and I was fortunate enough to find a perfect role with an amazing manager at Twitter almost immediately after making the move. My only complaint so far–the dating apps have not proven particularly fruitful yet (I might need to expand my radius to include Denver!), but that’s fine for now since I need the time to focus on getting back into shape.
Boulder was just named happiest city in the US, right about the time you moved to town. Coincidence?
I don’t think I can take credit for the happiness survey, but I would like to say I was pivotal in another recently released survey that placed Boulder just ahead of San Francisco for Smartest City in the US. I also don’t believe it’s a coincidence that Boulder is atop the lists for Most Active, Happiest and Smartest cities–smart people want to be active and active people are happy.
You’ve only been here for a short bit then, but what do you think about Boulder so far? Is the tech scene really a scene? Is there still an Applebee’s in Boulder?
Boulder is amazing. There’s no way around it. It’s hard to describe in words and even photos fail to show the incredible scale and beauty of the foothills and mountains that rest just west of the city. The trail running is challenging–longer climbs, more technical descents, and the whole lack-of-oxygen thing makes it a bit more interesting–but the views and beautiful landscape that you get to explore is unmatched in any other place I’ve trained. And if you’re tired of going up, there are miles and miles of trail systems that connect throughout the town for flatter options. And the best part for me is that I haven’t had to trade job opportunities for trail access–with access to the University of Colorado’s students and the ability to attract entrepreneurs who love the outdoors, Boulder has been an incubator for start-ups for some time and has more recently attracted larger tech companies such as Google and Twitter (and I believe Snap and Uber have nearby offices as well). I cannot think of another city in the country that blends outdoors and jobs as well as Boulder.
That being said, unfortunately there are no Applebee’s locations within the Boulder city limits, but there are a number of options on the drive into Denver. I don’t have many reasons to leave the Boulder area, but an Applebee’s date would definitely be at the top of that list.
Okay, and running – what trails are you hitting, and have you lined up any training partners?
I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with a great group of runners here in Boulder who have shared their favorites (and breweries!) with me. A lap of Mt. Sanitas from my house gets you about 1,500 feet of climbing in 10 miles, which is a great option when time is limited. For earlier mornings, Green Mountain is my favorite place to enter the pain cave—3,100 feet of climbing (in as short as 3 miles if you choose the steepest route) with a very runnable descent to really get the legs spinning. Not only are these climbs quite a bit longer than what I’m used to in California, but they also take you up to more serious elevation (the most nearby peaks to downtown Boulder can get up to 8,400′). I am really hoping the combination of longer climbs + altitude will be the perfect recipe for getting me stronger, especially when I return to sea level for racing!
You raced a silly amount of ultras early in the year, and I think that Castle Rock 50k might’ve been your first race back since June’s Western States 100. What’s on the calendar for the rest of the year?
I only really began racing in early October after taking a 3-month break from competition after States. This began with the Castle Rock 50k and then two weeks later I jumped into another local event, the Blue Sky Marathon, where I was fortunate to battle back from a several minute deficit early in the race to take the win. All that’s left for the year is The North Face 50 with my eyes set on getting a Golden Ticket out of the way in early 2018 at the Bandera 100k (can you believe it’s almost 2018??!).
And is The Mocko Show still alive?
The Mocko Show will always live on in the hearts and minds of the tens (hundreds?) of fans eating pancakes and frequenting Costcos around the world. I took some time off from running (and YouTubing) this summer after States with full intentions of returning to the Internet in the fall. This has proven more difficult as the last couple of months have been filled with packing my bags, finding a more permanent place to call home here in Boulder, and re-acclimating to this “office job” thing. And the time and energy required to film and edit (I know they’re low production quality, but editing takes time!) I feel like some updates are long overdue–the first step is just getting back in front of a camera again and then incorporating it back into a more regular routine.
What’s your favorite thing in the Runner Box?
Oh, that’s a tough question. I regrettably stumbled upon the Oatmega chocolate chip cookie right out the gates so that was gone first, but the Skout roasted pumpkin seeds were also delicious and probably a slightly healthy snack option. And I’m very curious to see if the deodorizers can fight the accumulated stink and sweat of my oldest pair of running shoes!
Thanks Chris, and good luck at The North Face 50. Follow Chris on twitter @chrismocko and on Instagram @cmocko.
Previous “The Runner Box” Colorado Runners of the Month:
October 17 – Ashley Brasovan
September 17 – Bryan Williams
July 17 – Anna Mae Flynn
May 17 – Timothy Olson
April 17 – Noah Droddy
February 17 – Courtney Dauwalter
January 17 – Becky Wade
December 16 – Zach Miller
November 16 – Sage Canaday
October 16 – Sarah Pizzo
September 16 – Clare Gallagher
July 16 – Addie Bracy
May 16 – Tabor Scholl
April 16 – Amanda Basham
February 16 – Alia Gray
November 15 – Ali Williams
October 15 – Neely Gracey
September 15 – Timmy Parr
August 15 – Andy Wacker
July 15 – Lanie Szuch
June 15 – Joe Gray
May 15 – Brittni Hutton
April 15 – Andy Rinne
March 15 – Justin Ricks
February 15 – Laura Thweatt