KARA FORD, 26, of Thornton won the Open 1 division, followed by Lakewood's Amita Chugh and Zoila Gomez of Alamosa. Ford is a case manager for long term care Medicaid.

How do you train to stay at the top of your age group?
I began working with a coach, Glenn McCarthy, last summer, and he has really helped me to take my running to a more competitive level. During the summer, I was running track workouts once a week with one of his running club groups, "Glenn's Gaitors". Now that track season is over, he has me doing tempo runs once a week instead, which helps me with my speed. My most important workouts come over the weekend, though, when he has me run a marathon goal pace run on Friday, followed by two long runs over the weekend, followed by another goal pace run on Monday. The back to back long runs over the weekend teach your body to convert glucose to glycogen during longer efforts of running and long distance races. The goal pace runs (particularly the goal pace run on Monday) teach you how to stay on your goal marathon pace when your body is fatigued, which is obviously important in the last miles of a marathon.

Where is your favorite spot to train?
Since I live in Thornton, I do most of my running on the trails near my house. I also like to run at Wash Park, which is close to where I work, and I have recently been exploring the trails in Boulder. I have really fallen in love with the Boulder trails that I've run on, and Boulder is probably my favorite place to train.

Why do you run?
I run for the same reasons that most people run. I love being outside with nature. I love the feeling of pushing my body to it's limit. I love setting a goal for myself and then going out and working hard to reach that goal - for me there is no greater sense of accomplishment than crossing the finish line of a marathon within the time goal that you set for yourself, because you know what it took to get there. Finally, I love running because it is the thing in life that makes me feel the most centered. When I'm running consistently and running well, I just feel happier and more at peace with myself and with the world.

In the series, which races were your favorite?
I think the series has a lot of great races. My favorite race that I ran in the series would either be the Evergreen Town Race or the Georgetown to Idaho Springs 1/2 Marathon.

Kara Ford's Racing Series Resutls:
Ten Mile Creek 10K, 1st, 150 Points, 39:17
Evergreen Town Race, 2nd, 135 Points, 39:04
Georgetown to Idaho Springs 1/2 Marathon, 3rd, 125 Points, 1:27:15