At least once a summer for the past few years I’ve made an effort to head over to the Roaring Fork Valley and run something cool around Aspen. The Four Pass Loop might just represent the pinnacle of wilderness trail running in the entire state of Colorado, if not beyond. It’s just such an aesthetic, logical, flowing loop that takes on, as the name suggests, four unique passes and five or six different drainages (depending on how you count them) along the way. The scenery is top notch and the trails are high quality. Keep reading…
Late-June in Colorado. With the spring snowpack all but melted out, green landscapes blanketing much of the state, and our days just barely starting to get shorter again, it was time to head down to Lake City for another run at the San Juan Solstice 50 this past Saturday. The SJS is about as time-honored a race as you’ll find in Colorado. This was the event’s 24th year and I’ve now been fortunate enough to participate the last four times it’s been held. Keep reading…
This past Friday I headed up to Blackhawk to run in the 13th annual Golden Gate Dirty 30, a tough 50K race in Golden Gate Canyon State Park that makes for a perfect spring training tune-up and excuse to dive from ski season into running season. It was my 5th time running the race, which made for a cool milestone and came along with a special bib and “5 year finisher” embroidered jacket. Megan’s attention to small details like these is what makes Dirty 30 a great race and one that’s easy to return to year after year.
It was a good day out there for me. Snow season in the Vail Valley ended awhile ago below 10,000 ft so I was able to log several long runs with decent vert heading into race day. Each year the course seems to get slightly easier too, mentally if not physically as well. The weather was also nearly perfect this go around, even for 8am starters, as things stayed nice and cool in contrast to the 80 degree heat of the past few years. Keep reading…
Earlier this year I signed up for the Dead Horse 30K thinking it’d make for a good excuse to head to Moab for a weekend in late-November. The Dead Horse Ultras put on by Mad Moose Events offers three distances – 30K, 50K and 50-mile – which all start from the same point and wind up and around through the Magnificent Seven Trails area northeast of Dead Horse State Park. The courses feature lots of miles running on red slickrock and through creek beds and sand washes, which lends to a true desert race feel. Keep reading…
