Why Stride & Story?

Every runner knows the moment your legs go quiet and your mind gets loud. Every writer knows a blank page can feel exactly the same. Stride & Story is built around that overlap: three mornings of movement and three afternoons of words, in a city built for both.

Not a running camp or a writing retreat. It's the space in between where a question you've been avoiding might surface four miles into a trail, or where a page you didn't know you needed to write finally gets written, surrounded by people who showed up for the same reason you did.

Kara Goucher has spent two decades learning what the body can carry. Mary Pilon has spent just as long learning what stories can carry. Together they wrote The Longest Race and now they're bringing that same partnership to a cohort of runners and writers in Denver.

Meet Your Hosts

Kara Goucher

Kara Goucher is a two-time Olympian (Beijing 2008, London 2012) and 10,000m World Championship silver medalist. She ran collegiately for the University of Colorado, made her marathon debut with a 3rd-place finish in New York, and has since become one of the sport's most trusted voices — commentating for NBC at the last two Olympic Games and co-hosting the podcast Nobody Asked Us. She's also the co-author, with Mary Pilon, of the New York Times bestseller The Longest Race. At Stride & Story, Kara leads the miles.

Mary Pilon

Mary Pilon is a journalist, filmmaker, and two-time New York Times bestselling author — of The Monopolists and, with Kara Goucher, The Longest Race. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The New York Times, and her work has included Emmy-nominated Olympic coverage and a Tribeca-premiered documentary. At Stride & Story, Mary leads the pages.

Where We’ll Stay

We're based at The All Inn Hotel, a 54-room boutique hotel restored from the 1959 Fountain Inn — a midcentury landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, tucked into Denver's City Park neighborhood. Original structural columns, floor-by-floor color themes, sixty years of character no new build can fake.

All Is Well, the hotel's all-day café, runs 7:30am to midnight — coffee before your run, a cup of tea after your last page of the day. The onsite dining, FiNO brings coastal Mediterranean plates and a garden for our group dinners. City Park, the Denver Zoo, and the Museum of Nature and Science are all a short walk away, and it's about 20 minutes to DIA.

Breakfast is on us every morning at All Is Well. We'll share two dinners on-site at FiNO plus one dinner off-property so you see more of Denver. Lunches are on your own; the neighborhood has plenty within walking distance, and we'll send recommendations ahead of time.

One thing worth knowing before you land: Denver sits at 5,280 feet. If you're coming from sea level, give yourself a day to adjust before our first group run.

What We’ll Do

Each day follows the same rhythm: morning group run, breakfast, writing session, lunch and free time on your own or an optional activity, group dinner. In between, there's room to explore — City Park, the Denver Zoo, the Museum of Nature and Science, Cherry Creek.

Evenings are for the group, shared meals, conversation, and the kind of connection that tends to happen when a room full of people are out of their environments and experiencing something new. We'll be capturing photo and video throughout so you leave with more than memories.

Morning Miles with Kara

Group runs every morning. All paces welcome. Trails TBC and finalized closer to October, with transport arranged for anything off-property.

Writing Sessions with Mary

Facilitated workshops each afternoon — some structured prompts, some quiet individual writing time, some group share-and-feedback. No writing experience required, just a willingness to put something down on the page.

What’s Included

3 nights lodging at The All Inn Hotel (Oct 15–18)
Breakfast daily
2 group dinners on-site at FiNO + 1 off-property dinner
Daily group run with Kara Goucher
Daily writing workshop with Mary Pilon
Ground transportation for trail runs & group activities
Retreat materials (writing workbook, run journal, printed schedule)
Welcome gift bag including running shoes and outfit from Brooks
Photos/videos from the weekend
Gifts, goodies and lots of surprises!

What’s Not Included

Flights to/from Denver (DIA)
Lunches (recommendations provided)
Alcoholic beverages
Travel insurance (recommended given elevation + outdoor activity)
Personal excursions/transportation outside the group schedule
Hotel incidentals
Shopping and souvenir funds
Gratuities for hotel/venue staff (optional)

Pricing

$3,500 USD (Paid By Credit/Debit/ACH Directly Through Website), Private Rooms
Payment Timing
To Reserve Spot Deposit $1,500 Due
Sept 1 - $2,000 Final Due

Ready to Run & Write with us?

Fill out the form below and we will follow up with next steps to register. Space is limited.