Derek Griffiths 1197 posts 0 comments

The floods that tragically struck much of Colorado were no match for the good karma of our resident Pooka, Harvey – Friday the 13th or not - as running conditions for the 7th Run, Rabbit, Run 50 Mile Run (and 2nd Run, Rabbit, Run 100 Mile Run) were perfect – cool temperatures during the day, a pleasant evening and night, trails that seemed hardly affected by the rains that had drenched beautiful Steamboat Springs for most of the prior week.  Yeah, race day there was a little of everything – sun, clouds, a bit of rain, a bit of mud, even a light dusting of snow way on high up in the mountains, elk, deer, moose and bear, but for runners, conditions were near perfect.

The 2013 U.S. Mountain Running Team competed at the 29th World Mountain Running Championships on Sunday, September 8, in Krynica - Zdrój, Poland, with four individual top-ten performances, and no team finish below fifth place.

After 282.3 miles of trail running and mountain biking around America’s highest incorporated city, Leadville, Colorado, this summer, elite ultra endurance athlete Travis Macy stood atop the podium as Leadman winner.

Hazy skies and dropping temperatures greeted participants of the 31st annual Valley 5000 5K race in Loveland, CO, Friday evening as the race kicked off near Fairgrounds Park.  The event - a staple to the Loveland running community - has one of the coolest finishes of running event's in the area: at mile 3, runners take a quick right turn onto a wooden footbridge where they can see the final downhill to the finish line where the post-race party has already begun.

Fartlek is a training technique that was developed by the Swedish coach, Gosta Holmer, during the 1930s and 1940s. Fartlek is the Swedish word for speed play. Holmer developed the training to utilize the walking paths across Sweden and give his runners something more than intervals, the way most trained at the time.

Recently, while running up Pikes Peak I came upon a fellow with good intentions explaining hydration to a woman who was new to mountain running. He said: "You don't need to carry water with you during the race; they have plenty of aid stations. Besides, most people over-hydrate anyway."  The problem saying this to a novice is that they might interpret this to mean they should not drink very much during the race.

One of the most prestigious and competitive ultra runs in the country is the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Race.  The 40th running of the 100.2 mile race took place last Saturday, June 29th, starting in Squaw Valley, California and finishing in Auburn.

Bernie Boettcher took the winners stand at the annual Garfield Grumble 5M in Grand Junction. This trail race is set at the base of Mt Garfield just outside the city. The grueling climb and fast paced descent are just the beginning. To finish the race, one must jump the fire pit!