Derek Griffiths 1196 posts 0 comments

The 2nd Annual DreamCatcher Half Marathon featured an exciting finish between Grand Junction's Kim Dobson and Colorado Springs' Neil McDonagh.  Yes, you heard that correctly; new mother Dobson returned to the racing scene Saturday morning for the local race that runs along the Colorado River and consists of wide paved bike paths (60%), unpaved bike paths (10%), gravel trails (10%) and country roads (20%).  Needless to say, the relatively flat course boded well for Dobson, who out-sprinted McDonagh for the overall win in 1:25:46.  McDonagh finished seconds later in 1:25:48.

Golden's Brianne Nelson has impressively grown to be one of the country's top road runners.  She's had a busy 2015 and we caught up with her following a big PR at the half marathon, a disappointing race at the U.S. cross country championships, and just ahead of the LA Marathon.  Nelson talks about all of it below.

Over the last couple of years, runner Sage Canaday has gone from training for road marathons with the elite Hansons-Brooks Distance Project team to dominating the ultra and mountain trail running scene. After winning and setting course records at Speed Goat 50K (2013 and 2014) in Utah, Tarawera 100K (2013 and 2014) in New Zealand, Mt. Washington Hill Climb (2012) in New Hampshire, Pikes Peak Ascent (2014) in Colorado, and other races Sage has set his sights on qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials. On top of that, Sage will be running the famed Comrades Marathon in South Africa at the end of May as well as the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in the Alpes in late August.

The Runner Box and Colorado Runner Mag have partnered to celebrate Colorado’s outstanding runners. Each month The Runner Box will award one of its jam-packed boxes of runner goodies to a runner that we select. Our first winner was Laura Thweatt, who won the U.S. cross country championships in February, and will lead the American women’s team into worlds next month in China.

When it comes to running, Joe Gray is a Jack of all Trades.  Whether it be a challenging mountain race, competitive cross country meet, or long distance road race, Gray is dominant and successful across each discipline.

As many of you know, the GPS running watch market has exploded. Back in the day, it was Garmin or nothing. Now with the likes of Tom Tom, Timex, Nike, Polar, Suunto and a whole host of apps for you phone, the choice can become overwhelming. Add into the mix all of the activity trackers, and what's a runner to do!

I first met Gavin McKenzie last August up in Leadville, Colorado. It was a few days before the Leadville Trail 100 MTB and the town was packed with athletes. I was meeting my friend Kendrick Callaway for a long weekend of running in the Sawatch Mountains on the famed Nolan’s 14 course. Kendrick had arranged to borrow a couple running packs from Gavin, and we were going to meet him at City on a Hill Coffee where he worked to pick them up.

For the longest time, Heather Utrata was a Denver-area road running favorite. She won a lot of races - some competitive and some not - including two straight Colfax Marathons (2009 + 2010). She was nominated for the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year award in 2012, the same year that she set her personal best in the marathon (2:41, Tucson Marathon). Utrata now races less, doesn't update her blog, and left Denver for Greeley.