Category Archives: Run

Upcoming Unconvetional Races

Running is one of the best ways to get into or stay in shape… it requires minimal equipment, it’s free, and you can do it anywhere. I love a good race to train for, but if running down a road for 13.1 or 26.2 miles doesn’t appeal to you, then you might want to consider a less conventional race. Here is a list of some of the upcoming fun runs and races along the Front Range anyone is sure to enjoy.

The Flaming Foliage Relay:

Enjoy single track trails and fall colors with 11 of your closest friends as you tackle an overnight 170 mile route from Idaho Springs to Buena Vista. During this adventure race style event you will run several times, you will finish with loads of stories, you will need sleep and a massage, and you won’t be able to wait for the next relay!

Idaho Springs to Buena Vista:

  • Race Date: 9/13/13-9/14/13
  • Registration Deadline: until sold out

For more information click here.

Flaming Foliage Relay

 

The Zombie Run:

Prepare to run for your life in this exhilarating race to survive. Whether you finish dead and hungry for brains or alive and hungry for beers, all runners are allowed to finish the race. This experience is sure to be one you won’t soon forget!

Denver:

  • Race Date: 7/28/13
  • Registration Deadline: until sold out

For more information click here.

Zombie Run

Big Dog Brag:

This will be a very muddy obstacle course only with other activities such as mud volley ball and a 2k family run as well. With no time limit, this race is sure to be fun for the entire family… until you have to clean up.

Pueblo:

  • Race Date: 6/1/13
  • Registration Deadline: until sold out

Colorado Springs:

  • Race Date: 8/3/13
  • Registration Deadline: until sold out

For more information click here.

Mud Run

The Color Run:

During this race, participants are doused in colors as they run. The goal is to be covered from head to toe when you reach the finish line. The colors are washable and non-toxic and the only requirement is to wear white. This is sure to be an interesting running experience for anyone!

Colorado Springs:

  • Race Date: 9/15/13
  • Registration Deadline: until sold out

For more information click here. 

Color Run

All of the above races have spots for volunteers. Most, if not all of these will also wave the registration fee for volunteers.

If none of the above races appeals to you or you just want something a little different feel free to check out the following website for additional upcoming races in Colorado.

 

2013 Race Schedule

Running TrailI suppose it’s almost May… and therefore time to commit to the season’s race schedule. Assuming I have all my toes after this weekend’s snow camping trip, here’s what I’m thinking for this season:

Most of my races this year either take place at high altitude or as part of a team this year. So, outside of attempting a PR in my half marathon in Steamboat, I’ll be running mostly for fun.

Any tips about high altitude running are welcome!

What has been your favorite race? What do you have planned for the season?

Running on the Mendocino Coast

Last Sunday was a beautiful day in Mendocino. Full of crab and a little fuzzy from so much delicious wine, I decided it was time to stretch my legs and enjoy the sea breeze. Jason and I headed to the headlands in Mendocino  to go for a short run before lunch.

It was not hard to find a little 3-mile out and back route out on the cliffs over the ocean. The damp, well packed, sandy trail was soft and even. I was able to steal glances at the ocean whenever I wasn’t to close to the edge that I was worried about falling off a cliff.

California Beaches

Afterwards, Jason and I met my mom and aunt Kay at Patterson’s, a little Irish Pub for lunch. I had crab cakes over greens and a mimosa where the server brought me the rest of the champagne split so I could continue diluting that orange juice until the whole thing was gone. Just how I like it!

Patterson's

Monday (while you were working!) Jason and I went for a run at the Jughandle State Reserve. There is a beautiful out-and-back nature trail there about 2.5 miles long that was perfect for my weekend run.

photo 1 (2)

It features a staircase of plant communities and soils that include more headlands (never can get too much of the ocean), a Bishop Pine Forest, a Grand Fir Forest, a Redwood Forest and a Pygmy Forest. Of course, I can’t tell the difference, but what I can tell you is that they are all green, cool, and beautiful.

Redwoods

We started out on the headlands, near Jughandle Clove before turning inland, going under the highway and back into the forest. The way out was mostly uphill and it took Jason and I about 40 minutes to reach the end of the trail. We cruised back in about 25. It might have been because it was more downhill… more likely it was because Jason was leading on the way back and I was leading on the way out. He’s much faster than me.

Jason & Me

At the trailhead, there are brochures that have information about the geology if you are interested in things like that. I was interested in the fact that I was running through a green forest in January – and I could have been wearing shorts! Also, afterwards we went for ice cream at Cowlicks – best ice cream in northern California!

Cowlicks Ice Cream

 

Cold Weather Running Pants

I’m bored with the treadmill. I can’t help it. It doesn’t matter how many games I try to play to keep myself interested. I still want to jump out a window after I’ve been on one for about 10 minutes. So in an effort to motivate myself to run outside – or at least remove one of my excuses for it being too cold – I just invested in the Women’s Ultra Windblocking Tight from Pearl Izumi.

Ultra Windblocking Tight

I took a bit of a gamble ordering them online but I know from experience that Pearl Izumi Medium consistently fits me really well. What I love most about these pants is that PI uses different kinds of fabric on different parts of the leg so the pants keep you warm and protect you from the wind but don’t restrict your range of motion. There are two pockets for carrying gels or shot blocks over the hips for long runs and a splash panel that will keep my calves from getting wet if I run through a puddle or the mud.

I’m curious to know – what piece of winter gear can you not live without?

Treadmill Workout #1

Just yesterday, an amazing thing happened. I was sitting at my desk and looking out a window. (The fact that I have a window I can look out of during the day is an amazing fact in itself since at my last job I worked 80+ hours a week in a tiny little closet with no windows in the basement of the office building I shared with another guy.) Remember that one scene in Office Space with that guy with the stapler getting moved down to the basement? It was kind of like that.

ANYWAY, I was looking out my window at 5pm and there was just a touch of light in the sky! Light! at 5pm! At the rate of gaining 3 minutes of light per day, I’ll be able to go for a run after work in daylight in about 2 weeks. Hallelujah!

Until then, since I’m a wimp about the cold and the dark, I have been spending a lot of time on the treadmill. I pretty much hate the treadmill. I think that I’m zoning out to my music and look down to find I’ve only been running for about 10 seconds. Over and over.

So, I started trying to come up with different workouts that keep me from wanting to jump out a window. Here’s one of my recent favorites, I hope it helps you as much as it has me:

Picture 5

Dailymile

Recently (yesterday) I started using the Dailymile to track my running. I figure that nothing will motivate me to run more often, further and faster than publicly posting my workouts! Well, being chased by something would probably make me run faster, but you get what I mean. So far, I really like it. Dailymile. Not being chased.

Dailymile is free to use and you can set up an account really quickly with your email address or by logging into Facebook or Twitter.

The home screen looks much like the Facebook home screen where there is a wall so you can keep track of what others are up to… or in this case, where, when, how far and how fast people are running, cycling, hiking, swimming, and walking. You can also add a workout really easily using an embedded map if you aren’t sure how far you went. Social functions include posting photos and sending messages. It looks like the application will even sync with your Nike+ or Garmin accounts! (Though I haven’t tried that yet)

The profile page has a nifty bar chart that shows your workouts for the week as well as photos, races, motivations, and friends. The summary bar shows how many miles run over the course of the week, how much time it took, how many calories you burned and how you reportedly felt on average.

If you want to go a little deeper for more info, you can also see your total distance, average pace, total time as well as your fastest run and farthest run. You can also see your lbs burned, how many times you ran around the world, how many TVs you powered, how much gas you saved and how many donuts burned. I wish I could switch donuts to glasses of wine. Come on, Dailymile!

I think that Dailymile will appeal to those looking for a way to track their workouts, see improvement and challenge and motivate others. If you check it out, be sure to friend me! Here’s a link to my profile. Notice how it calls me an athlete. I’m a huge fan of any application that does that!

Great Running Quotes

It was cold and dreary out today. I still have a food hangover from my weekend in Ridgway. I needed motivation. And like most readers, I can usually find motivation in a good quote. Here are a few great ones that got me off the couch and out the door today for a (slow) 3.4 miles…

Motivational:

“Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction.” -William James (from Scott Jurek‘s book Eat & Run)

“When you run on the earth and with the earth, you can run forever.” -Raramuri Proverb (from Born to Run)

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” – Steve Prefontaine

Just for fun:

“It’s the road signs, ‘Beware of lions.” -Kip Lagat, Kenyan distance runner, on why his country produces so many great runners

“You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.” -Gatorade

Do You Have the Gear For Winter Running?

Winter is coming to Colorado! Here are a couple of photos I took on a recent 4-miler on the Boulder Creek Path:

Winter in Colorado means short days, chilly air, hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and skiing for most. This year, I chose not to get a ski pass and instead want to build a good base for my 2013 running schedule. I haven’t decided what races I’m going to be doing yet, but there are some really interesting races out there:

  • Road Less Traveled Relays have two new courses I’m excited about – The Heartland Relay and the Flaming Foliage Relay. I’m hoping to put together an Ultra Team for the Heartland Relay, and I have two guys that are up for it, but I’m having trouble getting 3 more crazy lunatics to do it with us.
  • The Colfax Marathon has a new course though the Denver Zoo which could be awesome.
  • I am also kicking around the idea of doing the Leadville Heavy Half to get some more experience with high altitude running.

In order to be ready for any of these, I’ve got to get some miles in over the winter. Winter running obviously requires different gear than spring/summer/fall running so I put together a list:

It stays dark later and gets dark earlier so I’ve got to be able to see. I usually don’t form a relationship with objects, but I absolutely LOVE my Black Diamond headlamp:

It’s important to keep your core warm when it’s cold out – but I get really warm when running so I dress in a lot of layers. I have a sweat wicking base layer that I bought on sale at a Marshall’s store:

Over that, I usually wear one of my many long sleeved race shirts and then my Black Diamond shell or a Sierra Design rain shell if it’s snowing outside:

For lower body warmth, I wear GoLite running tights and if it’s really cold I either bail on my run or wear a light weight Sierra Designs shell over them:

I could use a little more reflective gear for evening running and right now I’m just using my normal road shoes. We’ll see how wet and cold my feet get this winter!

Building a Running Base

I’ve recently left a demanding job where I was working 80+ hour weeks in what I found to be a hostile environment. To save you from doing math, 80+ hour work weeks do not = much time for running. I suppose I could have made a habit of getting up in the morning and running before work. Instead, I got in the habit of waking up in the morning, checking my email on my cell phone in bed, swearing, sprinting into the shower (the only running I was doing) before heading into the office to try to keep one fire after another at bay.

Finally, with Jason’s support, I put in my notice, came home and jumped up and down in excitement — for about 10 seconds before I found myself out of breath! One year ago, I completed a half Ironman and PRed in my marathon and this year I couldn’t jump up and down for 10 seconds without getting winded.

Time to start running again. I was tempted to schedule daily 5 milers right off the bat but it turned out that I got really tired after about 2 miles. So, in order to be able to build up my base again, I adopted the Galloway method. The Galloway method incorporates walking breaks into your runs to keep your legs fresh.

I had used the run 7 minutes, walk 1 minute interval, but after reading this article I may experiment with walking a little more often. Hopefully that means that I can go further without injury! How do you build back a base after taking some time off running?

Sweet Georgia

Has anyone out there run the Colorado Relay (pre-Ragnar)? A few of you? Great. Remember the leg “Sweet Georgia?” It was billed as the “toughest leg of the race,” was 13 miles long, had 2,000+ feet of gain and loss and required runners to carry survival gear. Ring a bell? Well, I have always. Always! Wanted to run over Georgia Pass.

Jason got to run Georgia Pass during the relay last year – and I was super jealous. I was even more jealous when, the day before my half-Ironman, Jason and Johnny (our relay captain) ran over Georgia for a training run. I felt like Jason got initiated to a club I hadn’t been invited to join… yet.

This year Ragnar took over the Colorado Relay and eliminated all the single track routes from the course – including Sweet Georgia. I was extremely disappointed since it was finally my turn to run that leg. Fortunately, Johnny and Jason missed the single track too, and gave me the opportunity to go trail running last weekend — and Johnny accompanied me over Georgia Pass!!

I’m not in the best shape of my life, so I ended up hiking a lot of it, but it was still amazing to see the route, views and trail.

On the ascent there are a few little bridges like this one. Take the opportunity to get a drink and have a snack. You will need it later!

Much of the trail is super run-able despite all the mountain bikes on the route. Just be careful of those flying up behind you!

This way to the summit!! (There are those mountain bikers I spoke of.)

I made it!! (Up the ascent but only half way through the run.) This is me, a proud girl at the summit of Georgia Pass. Everything I try to eat tastes like chalk and I can’t keep down solid food, but this is a great moment.

This is my relay captain Johnny and I. We didn’t plan the matching shirts, and want to thank that mountain biker for taking the photo. Shortly after this photo on the decent we were past by a biker confused as to where we had come from or where we were going. You know you are in the middle of no-where and run a long way when mountain bikers on a decent slow down to question you. I asked where his pegs were because he was suppose to take me back to my car. He started riding faster.

This is a photo of the trail from the decent. Johnny and I stopped about 45 minutes after we say the last biker to listen to… nothing. There was no wind. No animals. No people. No cars. I even held my breathe. I’ve never heard silence like that. Johnny told me that it seemed spooky. I smiled and we started running down the trail again.

Here is the road that leads to the finish of the leg… don’t be fooled! You still have about a mile to go. I tried to hitch-hike the rest of the way, but Johnny wouldn’t let me.

We finished in 3.5 hours – 45 minutes slower than Johnny and Jason did. So, obviously, I’m going to have to train for it and give that another shot :-)

See you next year, Sweet Georgia!