On June 3rd I ran in the 9th annual Golden Gate Dirty 30 trail race. It was my second “ultra” race and one I could definitely see going back to run again in the future. The event is so well executed thanks to a crew of awesome volunteers and one very dedicated race director, it’s tough not to view it as one of the premier 50k races in Colorado if not the country.
Truth be told the Dirty 30 was intended to be a tune-up race for my first 50 miler at the end of the month – the San Juan Solstice in Lake City. The Dirty 30 is a tough course and a perfect lead-in to a mountainous 50 miler like the SJS. Snaking up through the hills of Golden Gate Canyon State Park near Blackhawk, the course racks up 7,300 ft of elevation gain over the 32 mile distance. Keep reading…
In mid-October I ran in the 3rd annual Indian Creek Fifties 55k, the final race of the year in the Human Potential Running Series and a big goal of mine for the summer.
As anyone reading this probably knows, Colorado plays host to several dozen trail “ultras”, a few of which can take a couple tries to secure a spot in (the San Juan Solstice comes to mind). Dabbling in the sport more and more has only increased my interest in potentially trying a few of these events at some point in time. And like anything in life that’s hard, the best way to work towards a seemingly impossible goal is to break it up into many smaller, more manageable goals. Well, along those lines, there was no better time than this summer to start thinking about signing up for a 50k race. Keep reading…
Earlier this month Anna-Lisa, Jax, and I made our way down to Salida where I ran in the 11th annual “Run Through Time” trail marathon. This race, which features both a half and a full marathon course, is Salida’s biggest running event and has been held in early-March every year for the past decade. Because of the calendar date and elevation of of the race, runners never quite know what they’re going to get in terms of conditions on the course until a few days prior to race day – anything ranging from dry, 60 degree blue bird skies to snow covered trials and sub-freezing precipitation and winds. This winter has been an interesting one, with the majority of Colorado holding near 100% snowpack despite nearly a month of high pressure and warm temperatures in February that had many of us wondering if winter was officially a dud. Keep reading…
Two weeks ago I said goodbye to summer by participating in the Rim Rock Marathon out in Grand Junction. This was my first marathon and I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience. I’m not sure exactly what spurred me on to deviate from my normal regiment of hiking peaks through summer’s end, but it probably had something to do with Anna-Lisa making me run with her as she trained for her own half marathon in August. As I got out there more and more I seemed to gain a genuine appreciation for running, and after stumbling across the Rim Rock race website, I decided to sign up. A three month training regiment of running 20 to 30 miles a week tapered off into race day on November 7th. After staying in a hotel in Fruita, Anna-Lisa drove me over to the community center where I was shuttled down to the starting line in Grand Junction. A brisk 8am start had 140 of us beginning the route up and over the Colorado National Monument. Keep reading…
