Move + track
Choose your activity and track it with Strava or any fitness app or device you prefer.
See the optional Strava directions ↓Honor Nicole.
Move in her spirit.
Join Miles for Nicole and celebrate, as a community, the movement, adventure, and outdoors she loved so fiercely. Together, every mile moved creates lasting impact.
Colorado’s Collegiate Peaks, 2020
September 17–24, 2026Concluding on Nicole’s heavenly birthday.
What is
Miles for Nicole?
Miles for Nicole is a community challenge inspired by our beautiful Nicole Ashley Pollack’s active, adventurous spirit.
For eight full days, everyone is invited to move as much as possible, in any way they choose. Participants may track with Strava or any fitness app or device they prefer, then pledge a donation for every mile or make a flat donation at the end. The goal is simple: move more, get outside, and create lasting impact through a challenge Nicole would have loved.
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” — Thomas Campbell
Three ways
to take part.
Sponsor an athlete
Support someone else’s movement and participate in the giving without tracking miles yourself.
How sponsorship works ↓Give directly
Support the Nicole Pollack Memorial Endowment through the approved external giving page.
Donate to Nicole’s endowment ↗Secure giving through MSU Denver.How do I track
my miles?
Strava is the official tracking option for the 2026 challenge, but it is not required to participate. You are welcome to use any fitness app, watch, or tracking method you prefer.
If you would like to join the private Strava Group Challenge, use the button below to follow Nicole’s sister and the challenge organizer. She will then send you a private invitation.
Follow Melissa on Strava ↗- Open the Strava mobile app
Create or sign in to your account. Strava Group Challenges are available in the mobile app and require a subscription or eligible free trial.
- Follow the organizer
Tap Follow Melissa on Strava ↗ so she can send you the private challenge invitation.
- Join from the private invitation
When Melissa sends your invitation, open it in Strava and tap the option to join the challenge.
- Move and record
Record your activities from September 17–24, 2026. Only activities appearing in Strava will show inside this optional group challenge.
- Complete your pledge
After the challenge, total your miles and make your pledged gift—or choose a flat donation—through Nicole’s Memorial Endowment Scholarship ↗.
Sponsor
an athlete.
Turn someone else’s miles into encouragement and lasting impact.
You do not have to track your own miles to take part. Complete the private request form, and the challenge organizer will personally match you with an athlete. Choose a pledge for every mile or plan a flat donation, then complete your gift through Nicole’s endowment after the challenge.
We’ll use your information only to arrange your match; it will not be published on this site.
Request an athlete ↗Send your request
Share your contact information ↗ and whether you prefer a per-mile pledge or flat donation.
Receive your match
The organizer will choose an athlete and send the connection details directly to you.
Cheer them on
Follow their progress during the eight-day challenge and celebrate every mile.
Complete your gift
After the challenge, donate through the approved Nicole Pollack Memorial Endowment page.
She lived with
her whole heart.
Nicole Ashley Pollack was a radiant light—warm, deeply empathetic, and able to make people feel truly seen.
Colorado’s mountains, rivers, and open skies brought her peace and joy. She loved fly-fishing quiet streams, walking Aspen through Washington Park, hiking familiar trails, and ending the day beneath moonlit skies.
Nicole brought that same quiet strength and generous spirit to the people and places she loved. Miles for Nicole carries her energy forward through movement, adventure, community, and the outdoors she so fiercely loved.
Read Nicole’s remembrance page ↗Trails Nicole
loved.
Local Denver loops, alpine lakes, and high-country adventures. Search some of Nicole's favorite routes below and plan a mile in her spirit.
- 01 · DENVERWashington Park Outer Loop2.5 miles · LoopExplore on COTREX ↗
- 02 · DENVERHarvard Gulch ParkNeighborhood park routesExplore on COTREX ↗
- 03 · MORRISONMount Falcon2.6 miles · Out and backExplore on COTREX ↗
- 04 · GOLDENNorth Table Mountain7.4 miles · LoopExplore on COTREX ↗
- 05 · VAILPitkin Lake9.5 miles · Out and backExplore on COTREX ↗
- 06 · ASPENFour Pass Loop26.9 miles · LoopExplore on AllTrails ↗
- 07 · CRESTED BUTTETrail 40114.1 miles · Bike loopExplore on MTB Project ↗
- 08 · CONIFEREagle’s View4.6 miles · LoopExplore on AllTrails ↗
Every mile can
make a difference.
Last year’s inaugural Miles for Nicole challenge, together with the memorial soccer game at MSU Denver, helped raise more than $15,000 for Nicole’s endowment scholarship.
Support Nicole's endowment ↗Secure giving through MSU Denver.